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Detroit Mercy’s tumultuous coaching search has seemingly come to an end. According to Mark Berman of Fox 26, Davis told Texas Southern administrators that he would be leaving the program to become the new head coach of Detroit Mercy.
.@TXSOTigers VP/athletics Dr. Charles McClelland says he was informed by Mike Davis that he's leaving Texas Southern to become the head coach at Detroit Mercy (@DetroitMBB). Davis won 4SWAC regular season & 4 SWAC tourn titles w/ TSU incl their 1st win ever in the NCAA Tournament pic.twitter.com/Z8m74hxk8D
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) June 5, 2018
The report was later confirmed by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Texas southern head coach and former Indiana coach Mike Davis is taking the Detroit job, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 6, 2018
Detroit’s chaotic search for Bacari Alexander’s replacement spanned over two months, and for it to result in a hire of Davis’s caliber is somewhat surprising.
Detroit will be the fourth stop on Davis’s coaching journey. He famously started out at Indiana when he replaced Bob Knight, eventually leading the Hoosiers to the 2002 National Championship game. Since then, he made a stop at UAB before spending the last six seasons at Texas Southern.
He’s found success at every stop, posting a career record of 352-241. He’s taken nine teams to the NCAA Tournament, and has made it at least once at each of his previous programs. It’s a good hire by Detroit Mercy, albeit a surprising one.