PC, Davis expected to part ways


09:54 PM EST on Wednesday, March 9, 2011

By Kevin McNamara

Journal Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Providence College will end its relationship with head coach Keno Davis as soon as this weekend, a person close to the basketball program said Wednesday.

Davis, who for the last month has been working under a cloud of doubt, compiled a 46-50 record in his three years at Providence (19-39 against Big East competition). He has five years remaining on his contract, but school officials have spent the last several weeks weighing the progress of the program and the outlook for significant success in the near future. That process has led the school to conclude that a change needs to be made.

Contacted Wednesday in New York, athletic director Bob Driscoll said he had fundraising and athletic director obligations to take care of over the next few days at the Big East Tournament “but I’ll be back in town over the weekend and we’ll have the opportunity to talk to Keno then.”

Driscoll refused comment when asked if the school has made a final decision on Davis’ future as coach.

Driscoll has talked openly about “evaluating” the basketball program after this season was completed and many of the issues he surely explored have been on display of late. Several of the biggest concerns were exhibited in Tuesday night’s nationally televised 87-66 loss to Marquette in the first round of the Big East Tournament.

With an NCAA Tournament berth hanging in the balance, Marquette charged out of the gates and buried the Friars in an early 17-0 hole. The Golden Eagles went on to mount a 24-point, first-half lead, clearly showing they came to play with more urgency than the Friars did.

This Friar team has consistently fallen behind the whole season, but almost always fought back and played the best of the Big East to a standstill for long stretches. That happened again for a time against Marquette, but finding the consistency to match plays with the best, and scratch out wins in the process, has been an uphill battle for one of the league’s youngest teams.

There are reasons the Friars have lost 26 of their last 30 games against Big East foes. One is talent, or a lack thereof. Outside of All-Big East pick Marshon Brooks and sophomore Vincent Council, the Friars have lacked consistent production. Davis likes several of his younger players, and freshmen Gerard Coleman, Kadeem Batts and even Bryce Cotton have all shown the capability of blossoming into good Big East players. But the rest of the roster is filled with first or second-year players who haven’t had the time to develop.

The Friars also weren’t helped by the loss of Coleman for one game due to a disciplinary issue or the absence of sophomore Duke Mondy for the final four games. PC would say only that Mondy was out due to a “coach’s decision” but he clearly sat due to an off-the-court matter because he was healthy and ready to play.

Going to war in the Big East with such a thin roster is a recipe for disaster. This 16-team monster league eats its weakest and youngest members. Providence falls into that class. Davis has talked about that challenge often through this season.

“It’s a year where you might not see three number-one seeds (like in 2009), but you have 11 teams that are that talented where they can all be in the NCAA’s,” Davis said after Tuesday’s loss. “Marquette, in my mind, is a top-20 ballclub this year and they’re the 11th seed in the Big East. That shows how the Big East has been able to grow to as a basketball conference.

“For the teams that are trying to jump over the teams in the upper half of the conference, it’s been difficult. But I know all those teams in that second half are working extremely hard to make that happen.”

In recent days, Davis has said he feels that since the Friars return their entire roster outside of Brooks and reserve center Ray Hall, he likes the chance of his team to make an upward push in the standings next season. Large gains in skill level and maturity through hard off-season work are the paths to success, he says.

That may be true, but if the Friars are indeed going to make their mark in the Big East next season, it will happen under the watch of another coach.

kmcnamar@projo.com

Smart move. Dude can't coach any D and the only offense he seems to be able to run is playground isolation.

That National Coach of the Year award from 2008 is a nice conversation piece, though.

I think Davis is a good guy, but it is a good decision to let him go. It's one thing to lose games- - another to get completely croaked... but I don't want to pile on him tonight.

I was going to come to Providence's defense, but they may have forgotten what defense looks like the last 3 years.

Good move if true. It looked like a decent hire, but I applaud them for ending a poor match now rather than waiting a year of two when they wouldn't take much heat if they kept him around.

I doubt it will help Providence much...