Memphis basketball adds Mike Davis to coaching staff

Penny Hardaway is adding another college basketball veteran to his coaching staff.

Former Indiana coach Mike Davis is headed to Memphis as an assistant for the 2024-25 season, a source confirms to Bluff City Media.

The 63-year-old will join Nolan Smith on the Tigers bench this season. Jermaine Johnson, who first joined Memphis as an assistant in 2020-21, is currently expected to fill Memphis’ final assistant coach slot. Former Lane coach and Tigers legend Andre Turner will also work under Hardaway as the director of player/alumni relations.

Assistants Rick Stansbury, Faragi Phillips, Jamie Rosser and Andy Borman have all departed Memphis’ staff this offseason.

“I am excited to have coach Davis as part of our program. He is a veteran coach and brings a winning mentality to the team with an impressive resume to back it up, both on and off the court,” Hardaway said in a statement via Memphis Athletics on Sept. 18. “Mike has won at the highest level, achieved great success and is a proven leader of young men. He will serve our program in the office, on campus and in the community. We are happy to have Mike and his family in Memphis.”

Davis, a 1983 NBA Draft pick, spent three years as an assistant under legendary coach Bob Knight before becoming the Hoosiers’ head coach in 2000 following Knight’s infamous dismissal. Indiana earned three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths in his first three seasons, including a Final Four appearance in 2002. His tenure quickly spiraled after that, however, as the Hoosiers won just 48 games from 2003-2006.

As calls for his firing grew louder, Davis resigned effective at the end of the 2006 campaign and coached Indiana to a Round of 32 berth to conclude his time in Bloomington. He later qualified for the Big Dance five more times during stints with both UAB and Texas Southern, which led to his hiring at Detroit Mercy in 2018.

Davis compiled a lowly 60-119 record during his six seasons as the Titans’ head coach, but he did oversee one of the greatest careers in college basketball history. His son, Antoine, became the NCAA’s second all-time leading scorer during his five years in Detroit. The 6-foot-1 guard finished his career with 3,664 points—just three points shy of Pete Maravich’s record. He also led the NCAA with 930 points in 2023, and Detroit Mercy retired his No. 0 jersey shortly after his departure.

The elder Davis left the school after a one-win season in 2024, and now looks to help Memphis have a bounce-back year of its own come November. The Tigers missed the NCAA Tournament in embarrassing fashion last year after starting the campaign 15-2 and ranked as high as No. 10 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25.

Memphis has put together a robust transfer portal class featuring like star guards like PJ Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter and Colby Rogers.

The Tigers have also added to their frontcourt with Dain Dainja, Moussa Cisse and Tyreek Smith to go along with George Mason guard Baraka Okojie, UTSA wing PJ Carter, Gillette forward Bouna Kebe, Vincennes forward Damarien Yates and Lane College guard Ragi Phillips. Forward Nick Jourdain is Memphis’ only returning scholarship player, and freshman guard Jared Harris will also join Hardaway’s club next season.

Haggerty (6-foot-3) averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Tulsa last year, which helped him earn the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Freshman of the Year award.

Hunter (6-foot) averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 assists for Texas in 2023-24. He also won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award at Iowa State in 2021-22, and is 6-3 in NCAA Tournament games. 

Rogers (6-foot-4) scored 16.4 points per contest while shooting 40.9% from 3-point range (7.1 attempts per game) for Wichita State. Carter (6-foot-5) averaged 9.5 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 41.5% from the field and 40.3% from 3-point range in 31 appearances for UTSA.

Cisse (7-foot) and Smith (6-foot-8) averaged a combined 3.1 blocks per game last year for Ole Miss and SMU respectively. Jourdain (6-foot-9) started 25 of 32 games for the Tigers in 2023-24, and put up 6.5 points and 4 rebounds per contest. Dainja (6-foot-9) averaged 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in limited minutes for an Illinois team that made the Elite Eight last season.

Memphis—currently the No. 32 team on barttorvik.com—still has two open scholarships remaining headed into next season.