5 takeaways from Davis’ Ole Miss introduction

OXFORD — The weeks of speculation had passed, as had the four days of waiting.

Kermit Davis Jr. was finally introduced as Ole Miss’ men’s basketball coach Monday evening. Davis, who replaces Andy Kennedy, took the microphone after Jeff Vitter, the university’s chancellor, and Ross Bjork, and addressed the crowd at The Pavilion for about 10 minutes.

Following that, he fielded questions from the media for about another 10 minutes. This came a day after Davis’ 16-year career at Middle Tennessee State came to an end with an NIT quarterfinal loss to Louisville.

Here’s a look at some key takeaways from Davis’ official introduction.

Expectations

Bjork has made his expectations for Ole Miss’ program pretty well known. He wants the players to wake up on Selection Sunday wondering where they’ll be going in the NCAA Tournament, not if they’ll be in it.

The Rebels have eight NCAA Tournament appearances in their program’s history and haven’t come close to reaching it since 2015. So how does Davis plan on meeting those expectations?

“Well, (first) is the strength of the returning players,” Davis said. “We have to improve those guys. There’s talent in that room. So we have to individually get their development to go up. The culture of bringing other guys in the spring is going to be critical for it. And you’re in a league where maybe next year eight or nine teams will go.

“We have a system of play and it’s a system of play we know how to recruit to. We know exactly what we think Ole Miss needs to be successful in this system of play.”

Davis didn’t reach the NCAA Tournament till his 11th season at Middle Tennessee. He said he knows he won’t receive that kind of time in Oxford.

Roster

Sophomore point guard Breein Tyree, junior guard Terence Davis and junior forward Bruce Stevens were all seated in the stands of The Pavilion as Davis addressed the crowd.

Those are some of the players Davis will attempt to convince to stick with the program. He started that process by meeting with the team as a whole on Monday.

“I told them, ‘Guys, I don’t come into one team meeting and think I know everybody and figure somebody out. This is going to be a process,’” Davis said. “‘What you’re going through here is natural. I just left a locker room at Middle Tennessee with a culture of winning and my guys are going through the same thing there. It’s a healing process here.’ They were really receptive.”

Davis is hopeful there’s not much attrition, but he realizes it’s something that occurs with change. His staff hasn’t met with players individually yet but placed an emphasis on getting that done over the next four or five days.

He said the staff will go see signee Serrel Smith, who has asked for his release, and his mother in Florida, as well as signee Zach Naylor.

In terms of roster building, Davis sounded firm on constructing a program with high school players but mentioned junior college and grad transfers as well.

Staff

Two of Middle Tennessee’s assistants, Ronnie Hamilton and Win Case, will join the staff at Ole Miss, Davis said.

There will be a national search for the third assistant, according to Davis, which will include interviews with the Rebels’ current assistants – Rahim Lockhart, Tony Madlock and Todd Abernethy.

Among the notable news from the day was the announcement of the salary pool for Ole Miss’ assistants.

This past season, the pool was $565,000, according to Bjork. It will now be $900,000.

“We looked at the SEC. We looked at nationally, Power-Five conferences,” Bjork said. “Then as we were kind of going through the process with him at the end and sort of negotiating what his package looked like, assistants, etc., we just came up with that number.”

Davis’ Salary

Davis’ total pay was $762, 750 as Middle Tennesse’s coach this past season. His compensation will increase significantly, as expected, as Ole Miss’ coach.

The university awarded Davis with a four-year contract, which pays him $2.5 million per season. Ole Miss will also pay Davis’ $700,000 buyout at Middle Tennessee State as well.

On Mississippi State

Davis attended Mississippi State, and played there. His father, Kermit Sr., coached the Bulldogs for seven seasons in the 1970s and played there as well. Davis Jr.’s brother and sister went to Mississippi State. So did his wife, Betty. So it’s pretty much a Bulldog family.

Toward the end of Davis Jr.’s address, he said the following about Mississippi State: “I promise you this, there’s a lot of great Ole Miss people in this room. Nobody wants to beat Mississippi State’s tail more than Kermit Davis.”