Following-up on something that I mentioned first back on April 18th (DAILY DIRT: South Carolina Edition). Dave Davis has officially been named as the associate head coach at VMI. Here’s the announcement:

VMI head basketball coach Andrew Wilson announced Monday afternoon the hiring of Dave Davis to serve as the Associate Head Basketball Coach of his program.

Davis comes to the Institute after serving this past season as the associate head coach at the College of Charleston, where he helped the team to a 17-15 overall record as four Cougars earned All-Colonial Athletic Association postseason honors. John Meeks and Dimitrius Underwood earned second team honors while freshmen Reyne Smith and Ben Burnham were named to the All-Rookie Team.

“Dave is one of the most well-respected coaches in college basketball,” Wilson said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and has amassed nearly 500 wins as a head coach. Dave is one of the most innovative offensive minds in the country and will serve as my offensive coordinator. He is a great person and will be a tremendous addition to the VMI community.”

Prior to the College of Charleston, Davis served as the associate head coach for two seasons at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. During his time at Winthrop, the Eagles won the Big South Conference Championship title in back-to-back years and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2020 and 2021.

He was the head coach for nine seasons at Newberry College from 2010 to 2019 and Pfeiffer for 14 seasons from 1996 to 2010.

“I am over-the-top excited to be joining Andrew Wilson and his staff at VMI,” Davis said. “Andrew is one of the brightest young minds in college basketball and VMI made a great choice in hiring him. This is such a unique and special place and the alums I have spoken with are so passionate about basketball and their experience here. Austin Kenon and Keith Chesley are both bright, hard-working young coaches. I am grateful and blessed to be joining this historical place and such a quality basketball staff.”

With 28 years of experience as a head coach, Davis arrived at Winthrop after nine seasons at the helm of Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina. During his nine seasons with Newberry, the team led the South Atlantic Conference in scoring seven times.

In his tenure at Newberry, Davis posted five of the top six win totals in program history, which included seven consecutive winning seasons from 2011-12 until 2017-18. In addition to leading the SAC in scoring seven times in nine years, his teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally in scoring all nine seasons. In his nine seasons, Davis had 17 players earn All-South Atlantic Conference honors. He mentored three SAC Freshmen of the Year, four SAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year for Men’s Basketball (all in the last five years) and an Academic All-American.

Prior to Newberry, Davis enjoyed a successful stint as head men’s basketball coach of Pfeiffer University. In 14 seasons at Pfeiffer, Davis accumulated a record of 284-124 (.696) including 21 championships, NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen appearances in 2000 and 2004, and an NCAA Elite Eight appearance in 2004. Davis’ Pfeiffer teams averaged over 20 wins per season and rank in the top five in wins since 1990 in all of NCAA Division II basketball. Davis was named the CVAC Coach of the Year in 1998, 1999 and 2004. He was also named the NCAA East Regional Coach of the Year in 2004.

Davis’ 2009-10 Pfeiffer team finished as the highest scoring team in Division II at 103.1 points per game and his teams led the country – Division I and II – in scoring five times. They scored 66 second half points vs. North Carolina in the Dean Dome, the most points scored against the Tar Heels in one half in the history of their program. The Falcons scored 50 vs. Duke in the second half, 56 vs. Purdue in the first half and scored an amazing 146 points in a conference game vs Barton in 2010. 

Over Davis’ career, he has coached 19 All-Americans and has had 64 former players sign professional contracts, including Danny Huffor, Dondray Walker, Aegir Steinarsson, Tony Davis and Mitch Riggs from Newberry.

Davis has an impressive list of former assistant coaches and players who have excelled at the college and professional levels, headlined by Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane, Purdue head coach Matt Painter, Sacramento Kings assistant coach Michael Longabardi, former University of Washington and UConn associate head coach Raphael Chellious and former NC State assistant Rob Moxley. He also mentored five Division I head coaches, 16 Division I assistant coaches, nine Division II head coaches, five junior college head coaches, two collegiate athletic directors and five professional general managers, coaches or scouts.