| WEB |
|
|
| ||||||||||||||
On March 19, 2005, Clemson women's basketball head coach Jim Davis stepped down from his position after 18 years at the helm of the Lady Tiger program. Davis accepted an assistant athletic director position at Clemson. Davis leaves as the winningest basketball coach in Clemson history, men or women. He finished with a career record of 355-197 in Tigertown.
He guided Clemson to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and led the Lady Tigers to 11 final national rankings. Davis is the only Clemson basketball coach to win the ACC Championship, leading the Lady Tigers to the tournament title in 1996 and 1999. He finished with 51 wins over top 25 teams, and his teams won 20 games during 11 of his 18 seasons with Clemson.
Under Davis' direction, 16 former Lady Tigers achieved All-ACC status. Included in the list was Jessica Barr, the 1994 ACC Player-ofthe- Year. Davis coached Itoro Umoh, a former assistant coach under him, to three All-ACC seasons and former great Chrissy Floyd to four All-ACC seasons.
Davis also coached two ACC Tournament MVPs in Laura Cottrell and Umoh. Cottrell claimed the honors in 1996 when Davis led the Lady Tigers to their first ever ACC Championship. Umoh was named MVP in 1999 when Davis and the Lady Tigers claimed their second conference title. Clemson had four selections to the ACC's 50-Year Anniversary team in 2002, and three of the four played under Davis.
In 2002-03, Davis' team did not make postseason play for the first time in 16 years under his direction. That is quite an accomplishment when you consider the duration of his tenure with the Lady Tigers. The 2001-02 season saw Davis win his 300th game at Clemson. The Lady Tigers finished the year with a 17-12 record overall, and another NCAA appearance.
In the 2000-01 season, Clemson advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second round, and the Lady Tigers finished the season with a 21-10 record overall. Clemson was ranked 22nd in both the USA Today and Associated Press final polls. The Lady Tigers also had four wins over top 25 teams. The 1999-2000 season Clemson finished the year with a 19-12 record overall and advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second round.
The 1998-99 season was a record-breaking year as the Lady Tigers finished with a 26-6 record overall and the school's second ACC Championship in four years. His team also advanced to the NCAA's Final 16, his fourth visit to this level in his Clemson career. Clemson was also seeded second in the Mideast Region, the highest seed in the school's history. The Lady Tigers also were ranked 10th in the final Associated Press poll, the highest finish for the Lady Tigers ever in that poll.
The 1997-98 season was a record-breaking year as the Lady Tigers set the school record for most ACC wins (12) in a single season as Clemson finished with a 25-8 record overall. The Lady Tigers also went undefeated at home (13-0) for the first time in school history. The Lady Tigers finished 14th in the Associated Press poll and 21st in the USA Today listing.
In 1996-97, Davis became the school's winningest coach. He also guided the Lady Tigers to another NCAA Tournament appearance. The 1996-97 Lady Tigers finished ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll and 25th in the USA Today listing.
At the 1996 ACC Tournament, Davis led his fourth-seeded Lady Tigers to the championship with victories over North Carolina, Virginia, and Duke, the school's first ACC Championship.
Clemson finished the magical 1995-96 season with a 23-8 record overall, then tied for the second most victories in a season by a Clemson team. Clemson was seeded third in the 1996 NCAA Midwest region. The Lady Tigers also finished 14th in the 1996 final Associated Press poll. In 1991, Davis led the Lady Tigers to the NCAA Tournament's elite eight, before Clemson lost in the finals of the East Regional. It was the farthest Clemson ever advanced in a women's postseason national tournament.
The Lady Tigers concluded the 1990-91 season with a 22-11 record overall, and ranked 21st in the final Associated Press poll, and eighth in the final USA Today poll. The eighth-place ranking is the highest the Lady Tigers have ever been ranked in any poll at any time. In 1989 and 1990, the Lady Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Final 16. In 1990, he was named ACC Coach-of-the-Year, the first of two selections (1994 the other) for Davis.
In 1987-88, his rookie campaign at Clemson, Davis put his stamp on the Lady Tiger program in unprecedented fashion. In one short year, he tripled the number of wins of the 1986-87 team by turning a 7-21 club into a 21-9 squad in 1987-88, and it was also the best turnaround season in the history of the ACC.
Davis became the third women's basketball coach in Clemson history on April 1, 1987, another illustrious step in a career that saw him excel on every level of coaching from junior high school to head coaching at a major college.
Jim Davis and winning were synonymous with one another, as every program he has ever been associated with turned out to be a success. One reason is his persistence with obtaining the best, and a knack of getting the best performance from each and every one of his players. Davis also preached the importance of academics to his student-athletes, a point verified by the fact that all four-year players graduated during his tenure.
Davis came to Clemson from Middle Tennessee State, where he guided the Lady Raiders to a 19-8 record in his only year at the Ohio Valley Conference school. He accepted the position only 10 days before the season was to begin at MTSU, and after a 4-7 start, he guided the Lady Raiders to a 15-game win streak before losing to Tennessee Tech in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Prior to his stop at Middle Tennessee, Davis spent the 1985-86 season as an assistant coach with the Florida Lady Gator basketball program. Before joining the Florida staff, Davis spent six highly successful years at Roane State Community College in Harriman, Tennessee. Davis put together one of the most successful stints ever in the junior college ranks by coaching Roane State's Raiderettes to 127 wins against only 35 losses, which represents a .784 winning percentage. His teams won four Tennessee Junior College Athletic Association (TJCAA) divisional championships, one state championship, and were ranked in the Top 10 by the National Junior College Athletic Association three times (1981, 1984, 1985). His biggest accomplishment was the 1984 team's finish of 27-2 and the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship.
Davis was coach of the East squad in the 1984 NJCAA All-Star game in Hutchinson, KS. He also served in top academic and athletic positions such as chairman of the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Department at Roane State and chairman of the TJCAA Women's Basketball Committee. He was NJCAA regional director for Tennessee- Kentucky in both 1984 and 1985.
Before entering the junior college ranks, Davis coached two years at Englewood (TN) Junior High School and 10 seasons in various Tennessee high schools, including stops at Madisonville High, Charleston High, and McMinn County High. His overall high school record was 197-93, a winning percentage of .679.
Davis graduated from Tennessee Wesleyan in 1970 with a B.S. degree in health and physical education. After doing graduate work at East Tennessee State, he received his master's degree in supervision and administration from Tennessee Tech in 1975.
In 1996, Davis was inducted into the Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association (TJCCAA) Hall-of-Fame. In the fall of 1996, he was inducted into Tiger Brotherhood, an honorary fraternity that promotes high standards of social and ethical conduct while recognizing in its members an earnest devotion to Clemson, coupled with the integrity of character commensurate with a typical Clemson gentleman or lady. A native of Englewood, TN, Davis is married to the former Bobbie Henderson and they have one son, Todd. Todd and his wife Rhonda have two children, Ansleigh Grace and Jacob Garrett.
