Introduction
John Kermit Davis, Jr. (born December 14, 1959) is an American college basketball coach, the men's head coach at Middle Tennessee State University since 2002.
Davis was previously the associate head coach at LSU for five seasons. His head coaching experience included brief stops at Idaho (twice) and Texas A&M.
Early years
Davis' father, Kermit, Sr., was the head coach at Mississippi State University for seven seasons, ending in 1977. He was an alumnus of the school and was promoted to head coach at age 34 after four years as an assistant for the Bulldogs. In his first season in 1971, he was named SEC coach of the year.
The younger Davis graduated from high school in 1978 and then played at Phillips County Community College in Arkansas for two years, and transferred to hometown Mississippi State, where he played two seasons and earned a bachelor's degree in 1982 and a master's in 1984 while a graduate assistant.
Coaching career
When promoted from assistant to head coach at Idaho in 1988 at age 28, Davis was the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I. He had been an assistant for two seasons with the Vandals under new and first-time head coach Tim Floyd, who left for New Orleans. Floyd had rejuvenated the program and under Davis, Idaho had consecutive 25–6 (.806) seasons in 1989 and 1990, winning the Big Sky regular season and tournament titles to make the NCAA tournament both years. He left the Palouse for Texas A&M of the Southwest Conference in March 1990, but resigned a year later after an 8–21 (.276) first season.
After three years at a junior college in Florida and two seasons as an assistant at Utah State, Davis returned to Idaho as head coach in March 1996, then left a year later to become associate head coach under John Brady at LSU.
Davis became head coach at Middle Tennessee in 2002. He led winning records in his first four seasons but first made a postseason tournament in 2010 at the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Middle Tennessee followed that with appearances in the 2012 NIT and 2013 NCAA Tournament. Middle Tennessee moved from the Sun Belt Conference to Conference USA for the 2013–14 season. Following an appearance in the 2015 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, Middle Tennessee made the 2016 NCAA Tournament by way of winning the C-USA Tournament. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a #15 seed, Middle Tennessee upset #2 seed (and AP-ranked #2) Michigan State 90–81. Middle Tennessee then lost the second round game to #10 seed Syracuse 75-50.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) (1988–1990) | |||||||||
| 1988–89 | Idaho | 25–6 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1989–90 | Idaho | 25–6 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| Idaho (first): | 50–12 (.806) | 26–6 (.813) | |||||||
| Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1990–1991) | |||||||||
| 1990–91 | Texas A&M | 8–21 | 2–14 | 9th | |||||
| Texas A&M: | 8–21 (.276) | 2–14 (.125) | |||||||
| Idaho Vandals (Big West Conference) (1996–1997) | |||||||||
| 1996–97 | Idaho | 13–17 | 5–11 | 5th | |||||
| Idaho (second): | 13–17 (.433) | 5–11 (.313) | |||||||
| Idaho (total): | 63–29 (.685) | 31–17 (.646) | |||||||
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Sun Belt Conference) (2002–2013) | |||||||||
| 2002–03 | Middle Tennessee | 16–14 | 9–5 | 2nd (East) | |||||
| 2003–04 | Middle Tennessee | 17–12 | 8–6 | 3rd (East) | |||||
| 2004–05 | Middle Tennessee | 19–12 | 7–7 | 3rd (East) | |||||
| 2005–06 | Middle Tennessee | 16–12 | 8–6 | 2nd (East) | |||||
| 2006–07 | Middle Tennessee | 15–17 | 8–10 | 5th (East) | |||||
| 2007–08 | Middle Tennessee | 17–15 | 11–7 | 3rd (East) | |||||
| 2008–09 | Middle Tennessee | 18–14 | 10–8 | 3rd (East) | |||||
| 2009–10 | Middle Tennessee | 19–14 | 13–5 | 2nd (East) | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2010–11 | Middle Tennessee | 16–16 | 10–6 | 2nd (East) | |||||
| 2011–12 | Middle Tennessee | 27–7 | 14–2 | 1st (East) | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2012–13 | Middle Tennessee | 28–6 | 19–1 | 1st (East) | NCAA First Four | ||||
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Conference USA) (2013–present) | |||||||||
| 2013–14 | Middle Tennessee | 24–9 | 13–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 2014–15 | Middle Tennessee | 19–17 | 9–9 | 6th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2015–16 | Middle Tennessee | 25–9 | 13–5 | 2nd | NCAA Second Round | ||||
| 2016–17 | Middle Tennessee | 18–3 | 8–0 | ||||||
| Middle Tennessee: | 276–162 (.630) | 150–71 (.679) | |||||||
| Total: | 333–209 (.614) | ||||||||
| National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||