Keno Davis - Men's Basketball Coach - Central Michigan University Athletics

Keno Davis

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
Chippewasbball@cmich.edu
Phone:
(989) 774-3041

In eight years, Keno Davis has built Central Michigan into a championship-caliber program, both on and off the court.

Among the 2019-20 program highlights was senior David DiLeo becoming the Mid-American Conference career leader in 3-pointers with 337 and the Davis-led Chippewas extending their series win streak over archrival Western Michigan to six games.

DiLeo, who received All-MAC honorable mention, and fellow senior Kevin McKay, were the linchpins of a veteran 2019-20 Chippewa squad that averaged 78.3 points per game, ranking first in the MAC and 21^st nationally.

DiLeo finished his career eighth on CMU’s career-scoring list with 1,604 points and seventh with 773 rebounds. McKay closed his career 18^th in program history in scoring with 1,225 points, 10th with 698 rebounds, and fourth in career steals with 171, and fourth in field goal percentage, .552. He also posted 17 career double-doubles.

Davis’ Chippewas posted back-to-back 100-point games – 134 in their season opener and then 102 in their second game of the season – marking the first time a CMU men’s basketball team has scored in triple digits in consecutive games since the 1972-73 season.

The 134 points, which came against Mississippi Valley State, is a program record.

CMU surpassed the century mark four times in 2019-20, bringing to 25 the number of times the Chippewas have accomplished that feat in Davis’ eight years in charge of the program.

In 2018-19, Davis led the Chippewas to a 23-12 finish, tying for the program’s second-highest single-season win total. It marked the fifth-consecutive season in which CMU finished .500 or better. It is the first time the program has accomplished such a feat since the early 1970s.

It was CMU’s second-consecutive 20-win season and its third in the eight years that Davis has been at the helm. It marked the first time the program has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons since the mid 1960s.

The Chippewas earned a postseason bid for the fourth time in a five-year span by accepting a bid to the College Basketball Invitational.

Davis’ ’18-19 squad was led by the outstanding guard duo of Larry Austin Jr. and Shawn Roundtree Jr. Austin, a graduate transfer, earned Second Team All-MAC honors, a spot on the MAC All-Defensive Team, and to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 14 Second Team. Roundtree, a senior, earned Third Team All-MAC honors.

Under Davis, the Chippewas have produced outstanding tangible results in the won-loss columns and have been highly competitive in the MAC.

Their success on their home floor, Kulhavi Court at McGuirk Arena, is clearly evident in the numbers covering the past six seasons. In that span, the Chippewas at home are a combined 75-23, a .765 win percentage.

Davis took the reins of the Chippewas before the 2012-13 season and immediately established an exciting brand of basketball featuring up-tempo offense that emphasizes the 3-point shot, giving rise to the program’s "3MU" moniker.

The Chippewas continued their remarkable success from both long range and from the free throw line in ’19-20, making 7.7 triples per game and 74.6 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. They ranked first in the MAC in makes and second in attempts.

That success from long range and from the line spearheaded an offense that ranked 10^th nationally at 82.7 points per game. It marked the second time in the last three years that the Chippewas have finished among the top 10 nationally in scoring.

In 2016-17, that Davis-coached offense ranked third in the nation, averaging an explosive 88.3 points per game. It was triggered by another dynamic backcourt duo, Marcus Keene and Braylon Rayson.

Keene led the nation in scoring, becoming the first NCAA Division I player in 20 years to average 30 points per game. He earned All-America honorable mention, becoming the first Chippewa to be so honored since 2003. He set a MAC record by scoring an eye-popping 959 points, the 20^th-highest total for a single season in NCAA Division I history.

Both Keene and Rayson played professionally, joining an ever-growing list of Davis-coached Chippewas who have gone on to pro careers. In all, some two dozen players that Davis has coached in his 12 years at the helm of three Division I programs have gone on to the pro ranks.

Keene’s exploits brought unprecedented attention to Davis’ program and the university by way of full-length feature stories published by the likes of Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. His highlights were also frequently broadcast on the likes of ESPN's SportsCenter and he was the subject of a feature on the CBS Evening News.

Davis guided CMU to its second consecutive MAC West title in 2015-16, earning a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. It marked the first time since 1971 that CMU made back-to-back postseason appearances.

The end of the season brought to the end an outstanding era of CMU basketball as Davis said good-bye to a senior class led by Chris Fowler and John Simons. That duo, along with several other key contributors, comprised Davis’ first CMU recruiting class and became the foundational building blocks for the program’s success under Davis.

In 2014-15, Davis engineered the nation's fifth-largest turnaround and captured CMU's first Mid-American Conference regular-season championship since the 2002-03 season.

Central Michigan posted 23 wins, a 13-win improvement from the previous year, after being selected 11th in the MAC preseason poll. The Chippewas proved to be the class of the conference as they won 12 league games, claimed the MAC West title, and earned the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament. A postseason berth, the program’s first in more than a decade, followed as CMU accepted a bit to the National Invitation Tournament.

For orchestrating CMU's historic turnaround, Davis was selected as MAC and National Association of Basketball Coaches District Coach of the Year. In recognition of success achieved on the court and his moral integrity displayed off the court, Davis was also honored with the 2015 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award.

Davis’ continued emphasis on the importance of academics was reflected in the fact that CMU was one of only 19 Division I schools to receive the Team Academic Excellence Award from the NABC. Seventeen times in Davis’ seven seasons in charge of the program have Chippewas landed on the league academic honor squad.

Davis and his assistants have also made inroads in another key area, camps. CMU hosted more than 1,000 youngsters during its four camps throughout the summer months in 2019.

Davis' positive and uplifting message has clearly struck an immediate chord with Chippewa fans. His Twitter account boasts more than 22,000 followers, ranking Davis in the top 15 among all Division I head coaches and first among all mid-major programs.

DAVIS' BACKGROUND IS STEEPED IN TRADITION AND SUCCESS
Davis was introduced by as the Chippewas' 20th men's basketball coach on April 3, 2012, bringing four years of Division I head coaching experience.

In 2008, Davis was named the coach of the year by six national organizations, including the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and The Sporting News.

In one season at Drake and three at Providence, Davis compiled a 74-55 (.574) record and made two postseason appearances.

In 2007-08, Davis’ first as a head coach, he led Drake to a 28-5 record, including a 15-3 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. His team captured its first MVC regular-season title since 1971, the first MVC Tournament championship in program history, and the Bulldogs made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1971.

Drake was nationally ranked for a school-record eight consecutive weeks and finished 14th in the Associated Press Poll and 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Davis inherited a team that had graduated four starters from a squad that went 17-15 in 2006-07. He took a team that was picked to finish ninth in the MVC to the program's first top-25 ranking since 1974-75.

Moving to Providence in 2008-09, Davis guided the Friars to a 19-14 mark in his first season, including a 10-8 finish in the BIG EAST. The 19 victories was the most for a first-year coach in the history of the program, and two of those wins came over top-15 teams, including Pittsburgh, which was ranked No. 1 nationally when the Friars posted an 81-73 upset.

That Providence squad finished tied for sixth place in the conference after it was picked to finish 12th in the preseason poll. Davis led Providence to its first BIG EAST Tournament victory in six years and into the postseason as the Friars earned an at-large bid to the NIT.

In 2009-10 Davis' team ranked third in the nation in scoring at 82.4 points per game.

Davis has a proven track record of developing players and preparing them for the next level. At Providence, he mentored MarShon Brooks, who was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 25th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft after Brooks had earned multiple All-America honors.

Prior to taking over as the head coach at Drake, Davis served as an assistant under his father, Dr. Tom Davis, at Drake from 2003-07. Keno Davis began his coaching career in 1995 as an assistant for two years under Bruce Pearl at Southern Indiana, then served as an assistant under Gary Garner at Southeast Missouri State from 1997-2003.

Davis was exposed to basketball at a very young age as he watched his father become one of the NCAA's all-time winningest coaches. In 32 seasons as a head coach at Lafayette (1971-77), Boston College (1977-82), Stanford (1982-86), Iowa (1986-99) and Drake (2003-07), Tom Davis registered a 598-355 record (.628), which included 18 postseason appearances and 16 20-win seasons.

Keno and his father share the distinction of being the only father-son duo to have captured national coach of the year honors. In 1987, Tom Davis was named by the Associated Press as its National Coach of the Year. The Davis duo has combined for 807 victories (a .600 win percentage).