04-01-2011, 08:04 AM
UAB wants Mike Davis to do more before it pays him more
Published: Friday, April 01, 2011, 6:45 AM Updated: Friday, April 01, 2011, 6:48 AM
By Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News al.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Raise your hand if you're a college basketball coach and you just got a raise.
I see you, Matt Painter.
You, too, Josh Pastner.
Patience, Anthony Grant. Your bump is no doubt coming.
Schools hand out extra money so often, it's not really news anymore. Real news would be a coach winning games, staying at his current job and his contract remaining the same.
This just in: UAB is not going to extend the contract of Conference USA coach of the year Mike Davis or give him a raise. That means the coach of this season's C-USA champions has two years left on his deal.
Every action or inaction on the subject of contracts sends a message. So what message is UAB sending Davis? We love what you did this season, on and off the floor. No, seriously. Keep doing it. And do more.
Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.It was nice to take Memphis to overtime in Bartow Arena and push the Tigers to the final minute in the FedExForum without Cameron Moore. Now go beat them for the first time.
It was great to win the program's first outright regular-season championship in C-USA. Now do some damage in the C-USA Tournament, too.
It was terrific to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. Now go back and advance.
It was essential to post three straight scores of 1,000 on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, with a fourth potentially on the way this semester. Now continue the emphasis on academics with your recruits and your players.
That last point can't be stressed enough. It may be the key point in the administration's decision.
A year ago, it took a powerful presentation and wide-ranging plan from UAB President Carol Garrison for the basketball team to avoid a postseason ban this year because of poor APR numbers on its rolling four-year average. Garrison kept the postseason hope alive, and Davis made the opportunity count, despite the loss of two scholarships and limited practice time.
There's no question Davis matured as a head coach this season, but as much as he accomplished, it's obvious the administration wants to see more.
Is that asking too much? Depends on your point of view. If you support Davis, you're no doubt disappointed that UAB is not going to reward his most successful season, on and off the court, with a renewed, tangible, contractual commitment.
Consider that Memphis, after two years, just signed Pastner to a new five-year deal and almost doubled his salary to $1.7 million a year. Davis remains at $625,000 a year with a contract that doesn't include such standard bonuses as coach of the year or a conference title.
UAB isn't Memphis in many ways, but except for head-to-head matchups, their records the past two years are strikingly similar. One NIT and one NCAA Tournament for each. One C-USA Tournament title for Memphis and one C-USA regular-season title for UAB.
Pastner gets a new deal and Davis gets to prove himself all over again next season, and the gap between the two highest-paid coaches in the conference gets even bigger. Imagine how that makes Davis feel.
This isn't the first time Davis and his administration have disagreed, but this appears to be a different situation than the crossroads they approached two years ago when there was a fundamental disagreement over DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins had committed to Davis, but before he would sign, he wanted something in writing that would guarantee his release to transfer should Davis leave for another job before Cousins got to the Southside. UAB AD Brian Mackin saw that kind of pre-release as contrary to the rules of the National Letter of Intent program and refused to give Cousins one.
Cousins, of course, went to Kentucky instead and became a one-and-done first-round draft pick on a team that won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the Elite Eight.
Closer to home, to put it mildly, that situation didn't help the relationship between Davis and Mackin. They seemed more stuck with each other than happy to be together.
Their relationship has certainly improved in the last two years. It wouldn't be in the best interests of either side to go backward now.
So where will Davis and UAB go from here? Davis should continue to recruit to build toward a fifth straight regular-season of 20-plus wins and follow that by making some C-USA and NCAA Tournament noise.
UAB should make every effort to support Davis and give him everything he needs to take the program beyond its current level of consistent success.
There is another level for the Blazers to reach. They can get there only if everyone's pulling in the same direction.
Got something to say about Kevin's column? Drop a civil comment below, or write him at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com.
Published: Friday, April 01, 2011, 6:45 AM Updated: Friday, April 01, 2011, 6:48 AM
By Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News al.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Raise your hand if you're a college basketball coach and you just got a raise.
I see you, Matt Painter.
You, too, Josh Pastner.
Patience, Anthony Grant. Your bump is no doubt coming.
Schools hand out extra money so often, it's not really news anymore. Real news would be a coach winning games, staying at his current job and his contract remaining the same.
This just in: UAB is not going to extend the contract of Conference USA coach of the year Mike Davis or give him a raise. That means the coach of this season's C-USA champions has two years left on his deal.
Every action or inaction on the subject of contracts sends a message. So what message is UAB sending Davis? We love what you did this season, on and off the floor. No, seriously. Keep doing it. And do more.
Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.It was nice to take Memphis to overtime in Bartow Arena and push the Tigers to the final minute in the FedExForum without Cameron Moore. Now go beat them for the first time.
It was great to win the program's first outright regular-season championship in C-USA. Now do some damage in the C-USA Tournament, too.
It was terrific to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. Now go back and advance.
It was essential to post three straight scores of 1,000 on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, with a fourth potentially on the way this semester. Now continue the emphasis on academics with your recruits and your players.
That last point can't be stressed enough. It may be the key point in the administration's decision.
A year ago, it took a powerful presentation and wide-ranging plan from UAB President Carol Garrison for the basketball team to avoid a postseason ban this year because of poor APR numbers on its rolling four-year average. Garrison kept the postseason hope alive, and Davis made the opportunity count, despite the loss of two scholarships and limited practice time.
There's no question Davis matured as a head coach this season, but as much as he accomplished, it's obvious the administration wants to see more.
Is that asking too much? Depends on your point of view. If you support Davis, you're no doubt disappointed that UAB is not going to reward his most successful season, on and off the court, with a renewed, tangible, contractual commitment.
Consider that Memphis, after two years, just signed Pastner to a new five-year deal and almost doubled his salary to $1.7 million a year. Davis remains at $625,000 a year with a contract that doesn't include such standard bonuses as coach of the year or a conference title.
UAB isn't Memphis in many ways, but except for head-to-head matchups, their records the past two years are strikingly similar. One NIT and one NCAA Tournament for each. One C-USA Tournament title for Memphis and one C-USA regular-season title for UAB.
Pastner gets a new deal and Davis gets to prove himself all over again next season, and the gap between the two highest-paid coaches in the conference gets even bigger. Imagine how that makes Davis feel.
This isn't the first time Davis and his administration have disagreed, but this appears to be a different situation than the crossroads they approached two years ago when there was a fundamental disagreement over DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins had committed to Davis, but before he would sign, he wanted something in writing that would guarantee his release to transfer should Davis leave for another job before Cousins got to the Southside. UAB AD Brian Mackin saw that kind of pre-release as contrary to the rules of the National Letter of Intent program and refused to give Cousins one.
Cousins, of course, went to Kentucky instead and became a one-and-done first-round draft pick on a team that won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the Elite Eight.
Closer to home, to put it mildly, that situation didn't help the relationship between Davis and Mackin. They seemed more stuck with each other than happy to be together.
Their relationship has certainly improved in the last two years. It wouldn't be in the best interests of either side to go backward now.
So where will Davis and UAB go from here? Davis should continue to recruit to build toward a fifth straight regular-season of 20-plus wins and follow that by making some C-USA and NCAA Tournament noise.
UAB should make every effort to support Davis and give him everything he needs to take the program beyond its current level of consistent success.
There is another level for the Blazers to reach. They can get there only if everyone's pulling in the same direction.
Got something to say about Kevin's column? Drop a civil comment below, or write him at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com.
