Drake President David Maxwell and Drake Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb announced Tuesday that a search is under way to hire a new men’s basketball coach to succeed Keno Davis who has accepted a job as head coach at Providence College.
“Drake University is grateful to Keno and Dr. Tom Davis for the masterful job they did in building a winning legacy at Drake University,” said Clubb. “We are sorry to see him leave. However, the foundation he built for success is a platform to hire our next great leader for men’s basketball.”
“Our first priority at this point is to reassure our players and our incoming recruits of our commitment to the basketball program, and that it will not take us long to find a coach who will build on the foundation Tom and Keno Davis have created in the last five years,” said Maxwell.
Drake posted a school-record 28-5 mark, while also advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1971.
The Bulldogs, picked to finish ninth in the preseason league poll, won their first Missouri Valley Conference title since 1971, and their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament championship,
Drake reeled off 21 straight wins during the season, while being nationally ranked in both the Associated Press and ESPN Coach/USA Today weekly polls.
“I appreciate the incredible opportunity that I was privileged to have over the past five years at Drake,” said Keno Davis. “The quality of people that I have worked with during my time at Drake will always be one of my best memories.
“It took an incredible opportunity for me to be able to leave such a special place and I wish nothing but continued success for the student-athletes and people that support Drake University.
“I appreciate Drake’s efforts and support in an attempt to retain me as part of the basketball program. They did everything they could and more. The final decision was not about things that could be placed in a contract.”
In conversations with President Maxwell and Clubb, Davis stressed that ultimately it was a matter of the next steps in his career, his affection for the Northeast (where he grew up) and the opportunity to coach in the Big East Conference, where his father’s trajectory began (Boston College).