Tom Davis was such a good coach that he was named national COY at Iowa in 1987…and was such a good father that his son Keno was named national COY at Drake in 2008. Tom made a pair of NIT appearances as coach at Lafayette, led BC to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 1981/1982, followed by 11 postseason trips in 13 years at Iowa from 1987-1999. Keno made the NCAA tourney in his very 1st year as head coach at Drake in 2008, followed by 5 postseason trips in 11 years at Providence/Central Michigan from 2009-2019. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Keno about his father’s fantastic career and taking over for him in Des Moines. Today is Tom’s 84th birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
Your father played PG at Wisconsin–Platteville: how good a player was he back in the day, and why did he become a coach? He was a pretty good PG for that level, but the best thing about his playing career is that he learned so much about the game from his coach (John Barth) who stressed education and the love of the game.
In the 1972 NIT as coach at Lafayette, Jay Mottola made a FT with 3 seconds left in a 1-PT win over Virginia: what is the key to winning close games in March? That was the year I was born so I do not have any memories of the game myself but I heard stories about how to guard great inside players.
Future Hall of Famer Gary Williams served as 1 of his assistants at Lafayette: how big of an influence was Tom on Gary, and do they still remain close today? They are still close today. To have that relationship with someone who you grew up with and worked with and bounced ideas off of each other is nice. They later coached against each other in the Big 10. I had the chance to visit with Coach Williams at the Big 10 Network and it was good to hear the stories from another perspective.
In the 1980 NIT as coach at BC he had a 2-PT loss to Virginia and tourney MVP Ralph Sampson: how close did he come to beating the eventual champs)? My 1st real memories of him coaching were the following tourney years: I went to practice every day that I could.
Take me through the 1981 NCAA tourney:
John Bagley scored a season-high 35 PTS in 32 minutes and made 3 FT down the stretch in a 3-PT win over Wake Forest: did he get the feeling that he had a team that could make a deep run in the tourney? I am not so sure that a deep run back then was something we talked about as much as we do now. For BC, as a team in the Big East without a lot of previous success, just to get into the NCAA tourney as a bubble team was optimistic.
Bryan Warrick scored 20 PTS including a pair of FTs with 21 seconds left in a 1-PT win by St. Joe’s: what was the reaction like in the locker room afterward? I was traveling that year with the band and my mom. I remember that our flight was delayed due to weather but being that young I just remember that people thought highly of the team. It is obviously disappointing whenever your season ends.
Take me through the 1982 NCAA tourney:
Bagley scored 26 PTS in a 7-PT win over #1-seed DePaul: where does that upset rank among the greatest of his career? That was a big memory for me down in Dallas after we beat San Francisco by 4 PTS in the 1st round. I think it is right up there because DePaul was nationally ranked and at the top of the polls the entire season. A lot of other bubble teams were upset when BC made the tourney so there was a big party back at the hotel for all of the supporters who made the trip. Whenever you truly upset a team it is more special.
Clyde Drexler had 15 PTS/9 REB in a 7-PT win by Houston: could you tell at the time that Drexler was going to be a star? That is more of a question for the coaches who did the scouting report! That was the start of the great years in Houston basketball along with Hakeem Olajuwon. I think that Bagley got in some early foul trouble and you need everything to go right to pull off an upset.
In his 1st year at Iowa he was named 1987 national COY: what did it mean to him to win such an outstanding honor? To win the AP award meant a lot to him because of who was voting on it. He has never been really big on individual awards but that 1 was pretty special. He had a lot of talented players on that team and had everything go right. They had some great comeback wins throughout that year due to their resiliency.
Take me through the 1987 NCAA tourney:
Kevin Gamble scored 26 PTS/11-13 FG and made a 21-foot shot with 2 seconds left in a 2-PT OT win over Oklahoma: where does that rank among the most clutch shots that you have ever seen? I would say right at the top. They came back from a 16-PT deficit and the final play had several different options after reading the defense to see what was open. It was a preview of things to come for Gamble.
Armen Gilliam scored 27 PTS as the Rebels overcame an 18-PT 2nd half deficit in a 3-PT win by UNLV: how devastating was that loss after blowing such a big lead? It is always devastating to lose in the tourney…but to be that close to the Final 4 was especially tough. UNLV had an incredibly talented team and that was the very 1st tourney to use the 3-PT shot. UNLV had some guys playing their best and knocking down key shots.
Take me through the 1988 NCAA tourney:
BJ Armstrong scored a career-high 35 PTS/16-20 FT in a 4-PT win over Florida State: how on earth did he win all 11 1st round NCAA tourney games in his career without losing a single one? I am 0-1 in the tourney so unfortunately that did not carry over! Whether they were playing a non-conference game against a weak opponent or a conference tourney title game, he placed the same emphasis on every single game. They played at a consistent level so that they would never play tight in the tourney. They would press and run and shoot from 3-PT land so they were hard to prepare for.
Jeff Moe/Ed Horton each scored 24 PTS in an 18-PT win over UNLV: was it extra-special to beat the Rebels after they had knocked him out the previous March? There was not a lot of talk about revenge because there is so much turnover from 1 year to another. Revenge games are more about beating teams who beat you earlier in that same season. Winning a tourney game is enough incentive.
In the 1989 NCAA tourney Rodney Monroe scored a career-high 40 PTS (including shots at the end of both regulation and the 1st OT) in a 6-PT 2-OT win by NC State: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot Monroe put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”? I think that NC State jumped out to a huge lead before Iowa battled back. The Wolfpack fouled Iowa PG Brian Garner toward the end of the game because he was a poor FT shooter but the Hawkeyes were fortunate enough to send that game into OT. Iowa had some really good players but did not have a lot of depth due to their role players getting injured.
Christian Laettner scored 19 PTS in wins by eventual champion Duke in both the 1991 and 1992 NCAA tourneys: what was it like to have to play those amazing Duke teams in back-to-back years? Most coaches always feel they have the toughest road to make it all the way, but Iowa had a stretch of years where it felt like they always saw teams such as Duke/Kentucky on their side of the bracket. It was obviously special to play against Coach K and if you beat Duke then you know you can go all the way, but guys like Laettner/Grant Hill made it tough.
In the 1996 NCAA tourney Jess Settles had 21 PTS/15 REB in a 2-PT win over GW: how was the team able to finish the game on a 25-6 run during the final 8 minutes?! I had already graduated but made it out to Tempe for that game. Sitting in the stands was something unique for me because I was always on the bench while growing up. I remember that it did not look like it was going to fall his way so I left the stands and just started walking around the concourse and occasionally peeking inside. Pressure defense can give you a chance to come back in those situations and those are the games that stand out the most to me.
In the 1997 NCAA tourney Andre Woolridge scored 29 PTS in a 6-PT loss to eventual national runner-up Kentucky: what was it like to face Rick Pitino in March? Woolridge was 1 of the best college PGs that I have ever seen and remains the only player in Big 10 history to lead the conference in PPG/APG. Coach Rick Pitino would send 3 players at Andre and he would just dribble right through them. They had 2-3 opportunities for some open 3-PT shots but just could not knock them down.
He is the winningest coach in Iowa history: what made him such a great coach, and do you think anyone will ever break his record? I think all records that look unbreakable eventually get broken. I felt that he was always learning/teaching and trying to get better. The program always improved whether he had talent or chemistry or just caught a few breaks. He would bring in under-recruited guys and get a lot out of their abilities.
After he announced his retirement as coach at Drake in 2007, you took over for him and went 28-5 in your 1st year there en route to being named national COY: how proud is he of all that you accomplished, and how do you think that he should be remembered the most? The most enjoyable time I have ever had in coaching was my 4 years as his assistant at Drake. It is a unique experience to get to work for your father and those years were pretty special. To take over as coach and have him continuing to help me during that amazing year was very special. That team was able to beat the odds and have an unbelievable season. To be ranked 14th in the country exceeded any expectations we had. I think that he will be remembered as an educator/teacher and a really good person as well.