@gros-louis Boosters were paying top players at every major school. To think otherwise, or that it could actually be prevented, is absurd.
Quit being naive.Only thing I'm shocked about is that someone would buy that garbage by Charlie Villenueva in the podcast. What reason would anyone have to believe his nonsense stories?
There were no rumors about Mike Davis paying players. Revisionist history.
@tr32 - Didn't you hear the collective agreement in the room when Charlie made that statement? It seems to be a well-known thing, not just a one-off Charlie story.
The question is, did Mike Davis start that when he became HC or was he doing that behind the scenes when we got Jeffries and Moye under RMK?
Sounds like I need to go hang out at your friends dad's house.We 100% had boosters paying players. No idea if Davis was in on it, but my friends dad was for sure paying the players and his house was a safe haven for smoking weed, free meals, etc.
@cavanagh Why? What was he getting out of it? Just like to hang out with the players?
Mike must need the money to take such a lousy job.@gros-louis I was really hoping Davis would do well. He seemed like the ultimate underdog. But that run really set him up. James Blunt that singer who sang that goodbye song said that that song paid for basically his entire life. Sidebar but he's actually a really funny guy. He threatened Spotify. He said if they didn't remove the Joe Rogan podcast from Spotify he would would release new music lol.
Anyway Davis: IU, UAB, Texas Southern, Detroit Mercy, and I believe he's going to be coaching again at a place called Miss Valley State.
"Davis is set to be named the head coach at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi, per reporting from Jason Munz of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It’ll be Davis’ fifth time leading a college program after stops at Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern and Detroit Mercy.
Mississippi Valley State, or MVSU, is widely considered to be one of if not the most challenging coaching jobs in all of NCAA Division-I men’s basketball. The program ranks in at 364th since 1997 in KenPom’s program rankings, which is right at the bottom. The Delta Devils haven’t won ten or more games since the 2011-12 season, when they went 21-13 with a win in the SWAC Tournament before a loss to Western Kentucky in the First Four and have been led by four coaches since, not counting Davis. MVSU finished the 2025-26 season having gone 3-30 and 2-16 in SWAC play."
Was such a rough gig at Detroit Mercy, 1-30, maybe Coach Davis wants to finish on a higher note and sees something there. Maybe the pay is better than assistant to Penny Hardaway.
Only thing I'm shocked about is that someone would buy that garbage by Charlie Villenueva in the podcast. What reason would anyone have to believe his nonsense stories?
There were no rumors about Mike Davis paying players. Revisionist history.
Uh, there were rumors about MD from the minute he was hired at IU. To say he kept the compliance people occupied would be an understatement, and that was just the stuff they knew of.
@tr32 - Didn't you hear the collective agreement in the room when Charlie made that statement? It seems to be a well-known thing, not just a one-off Charlie story.
The question is, did Mike Davis start that when he became HC or was he doing that behind the scenes when we got Jeffries and Moye under RMK?
They didn’t need to do that with either of those kids, for obviously different reasons. But Davis was a handful from a compliance standpoint as soon as he was hired by BK.
Or he enjoys being a head coach instead of an assistant? He's probably making roughly the same at MVSU as he did at Memphis. Just a guess on my part, but probably not too far off. He turned TSU into the class of the SWAC while he was there, maybe he can do the same to MVSU.Mike must need the money to take such a lousy job.@gros-louis I was really hoping Davis would do well. He seemed like the ultimate underdog. But that run really set him up. James Blunt that singer who sang that goodbye song said that that song paid for basically his entire life. Sidebar but he's actually a really funny guy. He threatened Spotify. He said if they didn't remove the Joe Rogan podcast from Spotify he would would release new music lol.
Anyway Davis: IU, UAB, Texas Southern, Detroit Mercy, and I believe he's going to be coaching again at a place called Miss Valley State.
"Davis is set to be named the head coach at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi, per reporting from Jason Munz of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It’ll be Davis’ fifth time leading a college program after stops at Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern and Detroit Mercy.
Mississippi Valley State, or MVSU, is widely considered to be one of if not the most challenging coaching jobs in all of NCAA Division-I men’s basketball. The program ranks in at 364th since 1997 in KenPom’s program rankings, which is right at the bottom. The Delta Devils haven’t won ten or more games since the 2011-12 season, when they went 21-13 with a win in the SWAC Tournament before a loss to Western Kentucky in the First Four and have been led by four coaches since, not counting Davis. MVSU finished the 2025-26 season having gone 3-30 and 2-16 in SWAC play."
@gros-louis Boosters were paying top players at every major school. To think otherwise, or that it could actually be prevented, is absurd.
Knight made sure his players had cush jobs at Cook and elsewhere during the summer and off season. Some ended up making their careers there, but most just took their paycheck and then left town once they were out of eligibility.
@gros-louis For sure. He might love being a coach more than doing anything else, including retirement. Rick P certainly didn't need the path he was on for money - Iona or wherever the hell he relaunched from
@gros-louis Boosters were paying top players at every major school. To think otherwise, or that it could actually be prevented, is absurd.
Knight made sure his players had cush jobs at Cook and elsewhere during the summer and off season. Some ended up making their careers there, but most just took their paycheck and then left town once they were out of eligibility.
I have no idea if the kids that came to play for IU under Mike Davis got anything more than what you mention (which was common even for kids in lower divisions and non revenue producing sports, guys I knew) RMK's players got. But boy howdy I will say that considering the vitriol and the microscope surrounding the IU program at the time due to the rift from firing RMK, with the Talibob running around for years afterwards hunting scalps and their hatred of Brand, the BoT, Davis et al I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have discovered it.
A good friend will bail you out of jail, but your best friend will be sitting next to you in the cell saying "that was f***ing awesome"