Ex-Idaho Coach Finalist At Ewu
Eastern Washington has narrowed its search for a men’s basketball coach to three and today will interview Kermit Davis, a proven winner at Idaho who later resigned from Texas A&M amid allegations of recruiting violations.
Davis, an assistant at Utah State, met with EWU athletic director John Johnson, among others, over dinner Monday night.
Kansas State assistant coach Steve Aggers will interview Wednesday, while Seattle Pacific head coach Ken Bone visits Thursday.
The job became available when John Wade was fired April 6.
Davis coached Idaho to a 50-12 record from 1988-90, then left for Texas A&M. He lasted one season, going 8-21 before his March 1991 resignation. Davis then spent three years at a Florida junior college before joining Larry Eustachy’s staff at Utah State. Eustachy had been an assistant to Davis at Idaho, and coached three years there after Davis left.
Davis’ record on the court, including consecutive 25-6 seasons at UI, is hard to overlook. But so is his record with the NCAA, which put him on two years’ probation in 1991 after Texas A&M officials said he repeatedly furnished false or misleading information when questioned regarding alleged recruiting violations.
That baggage doomed Davis two years ago, when he was a finalist to replace Eustachy at Idaho.
“You hire guys about character, and I think they know I have good character,” Davis said. “People in this area know me, and know what we represented at Idaho.”
Like Davis and Bone, Aggers has ties to the West, most recently as an assistant to Tom Asbury at Pepperdine from 1990-94. The Waves visit Gonzaga annually in West Coast Conference play.
“Coming to Spokane to play at Gonzaga,” Aggers said, “the quality of life is very appealing to me and my family.”
Aggers followed Asbury to Kansas State before last season. The two spent the 1978-79 season as assistants at Wyoming.
The 44-year-old Aggers compiled a 287-196 (.594) record in his three head coaching jobs - at Mid-Plains (Neb.) Community College from 1974-78; at College of Great Falls (Mont.) from 1979-85; and at Wayne State (Neb.) College from 1985-90.
“While at Pepperdine we recruited extensively in the Northwest,” he said. “I’ve always felt there are a lot of quality players in the Northwest. I’m guessing there are 10-12 players from the state of Washington on other Big Sky rosters.”
Bone, 36, led Seattle Pacific to a 20-9 record this season and into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II tournament. In five seasons, the former SPU player has guided the Falcons to a 99-46 (.682) record.
“Seattle Pacific University being in Division II basketball and being a small Christian school is not always an easy sell to a prospective college basketball athlete,” said Bone, whose brother, Len, coached at University High. “It’s not easy to land top prospects at a university like (SPU).
“But we’ve been able to get those kinds of players and have success at the Division II level. Like last year’s team, every player on this team was from Washington except two.”
Bone is the only candidate without Division I experience.
EWU expects to name Wade’s replacement by early next week.