Ole Miss is set to hire Middle Tennessee State’s Kermit Davis as new head coach

Kermit Davis is just one of eight coaches to lead a 15-seed to a first round upset of a 2-seed at the NCAA tournament — and he was more than just a one-hit wonder. In his past three seasons, he’s led Middle Tennessee to four Conference-USA titles, two NCAA tournaments, and even a brief stay in the AP Top 25.

That success led the veteran head coach back to the big leagues. On Wednesday, news broke that Ole Miss was expected to hire Davis as its newest men’s head basketball coach.

Davis is expected to finish out the postseason with the Blue Raiders before making the transition from mid-major to high-major program. Middle Tennessee’s 25-7 record didn’t have enough high profile wins for the selection committee to include the squad in the NCAA tournament, but an NIT title would be a fitting end to Davis’ 16-year run in Murfreesboro.

The 2017-18 season was a mess for Ole Miss. The club struggled through its first losing season since 05-06 before parting ways with 12-year veteran head coach Andy Kennedy. It was a long overdue move.

Kennedy’s teams had a knack for playing just well enough to keep him from getting fired; the Rebels won more than 61 percent of their games in the Kennedy era, including 11 straight winning seasons. However, the team made it to just two NCAA tournaments in that span and twice crept into top-16 rankings before flaming out and finishing its year in the NIT.

Davis will bring a steady veteran hand with a track record of overachieving. His first big job, way back in 1988, brought back-to-back Big Sky Conference titles to the University of Idaho as the NCAA’s youngest head coach. While that landed him a promotion to Texas A&M, his one season there ended in disgrace after an 8-21 record and NCAA violations that landed him a two-year show-cause order.

But Davis rebuilt himself, serving as an assistant coach and even returning to Idaho for one unsuccessful season before finding stability at Middle Tennessee. His recent success has vaulted him back into the spotlight. In 2016, his Blue Raiders toppled MIchigan State in an eye-opening first-round upset. The following year, his team leveled up to a 12-seed after a 31-win season and C-USA title, and knocked off 5-seed MInnesota.

While that upset streak ended this March due to MTSU’s limited strength of schedule, few coaches have raised their profile as much over the past three years. That led to the latest step on a long redemption tour; Mississippi.

Davis knows the Magnolia State. He grew up in Leakesville and played his college basketball with Rebels’ rival Mississippi State. He also knows recruiting in the area. All 11 of his recruits at MTSU since 2015 are from the south. Now that he’s got a high major pedigree and facilities to pitch, he’ll go from swaying overlooked three-star recruits to landing four-star players in Oxford.