When Tom Davis retires as the basketball coach at Drake his son, Keno Davis, will take over the program. The senior Davis has been the head coach at Drake the past three years and says while he plans to be there for five to 10 years, realistically that might not be the case.
Davis says this will help provide stability for the program. He says that’s needed because Drake isn’t a quick fix job to turn around. Davis says you have to constantly work at upgrading your recruiting.
Davis feels Keno is ready to be a head coach. He worked for Bruce Pearl at Southern Indiana and Gary Garner at Southeast Missouri State before joining his father’s staff at Drake.
Davis says it’s good to get out and get with different programs so you don’t just know one system, but get out and see other systems for points of reference and other approaches.
Keno says he does not expect to take over for a while. He says his dad will coach as long as he’s healthy and enjoying it. Keno says it could be five years down the road, and he says he’ll be ready whether it happens sooner or later. Keno says he won’t get another chance to work with his dad once he retires, so he’s going to enjoy the chance to work with him now.
Keno says the arrangement will help on the recruiting trail. He says the coaches can tell the players that there’s a beter chance they’ll have their staff intact. The Bulldogs were vastly improved this past season but in what was the best year ever for the Missouri Valley Conference they finished with a record of 12-19.
Keno says there were six M-V-C teams that could’ve made the run into the Sweet Sixteen like Bradley and Wichita State. Keno says unfortunately the conference will be even better next year.