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'I can show my face in public now'
By Mike Davis
Special to Page 2When I walked out onto the floor Tuesday night, it wasn't my stomach that got me, but my legs. I had no legs. I knew everybody was watching me. So when I walked out, I had to get to the bench pretty quickly.
|  | | Mike Davis admits he felt plenty of jitters on his first night as a head coach. |
There were so many things going through my mind: This was my first opportunity to be a head coach, and the game was on ESPN. I knew our guys would be uptight, and they would feel like they had a lot to prove.
Earlier in the day, I felt a little nervous, so I took a ride around to calm myself down and think. Oddly enough, in some ways, the day was no different for me than the past three years under coach Knight. If it had been one of last year's games, I would have spent the day watching tape over and over. So what did I do? I watched four hours of Pepperdine tape. The difference is, I was calling all the shots.
I was a bit jittery, but I knew, basketball-wise, that I was ready and that I had prepared our guys for this game. I felt like I had all my guys in position to play. Before the game, I pulled Jarrad Odle over to tell him to be aggressive. He ended up with seven boards. I told Dane Fife to hold his own at the guard position. I made sure Jeffrey Newton was ready to play, because he hadn't practiced much because of an injury and his conditioning wasn't good. I didn't talk to Jared Jeffries at all. I just knew that he would cause so many matchup problems for everybody. During the game, I just told him to relax and play.
I decided not to play George Leach, because I knew Pepperdine was going to pressure us, and they'd force the big guys to pick up their dribble, and that's not a good game for him to play in.
Before the game I told the team that this was the day we had waited on for a long time. I told them that we wouldn't walk out of our locker room this year facing a game we couldn't win if we played hard. I told them this is Indiana and that's Pepperdine, and Indiana is supposed to beat Pepperdine, so let's do it.
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I told them this is
Indiana and that's Pepperdine, and Indiana is supposed to beat Pepperdine, so let's do
it. ” |
Once the game started, I was OK. The game plan was perfect. Last year, we lost to Pepperdine in the first-round of the NCAA tournament because we didn't put the guys in the right spots. This time, you could tell all the guys were in the right spots, and we got a lot of good looks, even though we missed shots. We missed 18 free throws. We missed a lot of open people and missed opportunities on the break and didn't always attack. We were tight the whole game. But at the half, I told them that no one was working harder than us. A basket here or there, and we could have been up 14 points.
I think I felt the same way the players felt when we got up by 16 with 10 minutes to go. I wanted that clock to read 0:00. It wasn't until there was a minute left and they were fouling us that I said, "Wow, it's over."
After the game, I went into the press conference. My first one, so I didn't realize that they wanted me to start talking. I thought they would just start asking questions. Finally, I gave a summary of the game, and everybody in there was relaxed and happy and excited for me.
They asked me about my offensive philosophy. I want to get the ball to the people who can play. That's basketball. Watch the Lakers play, and that's the way they do it with Shaq and Kobe. They get the ball into the hands of the guys who can make plays. I'm going to play seven or eight guys every game. Every possession is so important for me and for the staff, because people will judge you on every outing. There are other styles, and other teams have more talent, but it's up to me as a coach to put the guys in a position to be successful.
After the game, Clarence came in to see me and congratulated me. (Indiana athletic director Clarence Doninger hasn't spoken to former coach Bob Knight since a February incident in which Knight shouted at Doninger). I thanked him. When he picked me to be the head coach, he didn't know if I could coach or not. He knew I could recruit, but after the two exhibition games and Tuesday night, I think I proved to him that I know a little something about basketball.
Now I feel like I can show my face in public.
People don't understand. I'm a long way from Fayette, Ala. My mom, Vandella, was so happy, maybe the happiest lady in the world. She had never attended an Indiana game before. This brought so much joy to our family. My wife Tamilya was there, and so were my boys, Antoine and Mike Jr., and Gary Whitfield, my best friend from home.
This is the biggest thing that ever happened to me. In life, everyone waits for something big to happen, the lottery or whatever. This is the biggest thing ever for me and my family.
Everything will probably calm down a bit for the South Alabama game. And if we win and get to New York for the Preseason NIT semifinals, I won't let anything affect our team. We'll go to a Knicks or Nets game if they're in town, or to a play and have some fun. I want them to have fun. I don't want the guys sitting in the hotel feeling the pressure. I want them to enjoy New York.
Hopefully, we'll have a good showing in the NIT, win a couple of games and after that, they'll want to bring me in as full-time head coach. They'll want to say, "Let's get this done."
I hope so.
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night after Knight |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Davis is excited to get his first win at Assembly Hall.
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Mike Davis says that the team started out tight.
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ESPN's Leo Rautins describes the beginning of the post-Bob Knight era in Indiana.
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Life goes on in Indiana. ESPN Radio's college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb reports.
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