Providence College Coach Looks to Future

by Jesse Liebman

Editorial. Photos by AP News

For Keno Davis and the Providence College Friars, the only direction they have to look at after this season is up.

It’s been an otherwise dreary year for the Friars. After making his debut last season for PC and finishing tied for seventh in the Big East Conference, Davis has seen his team come apart at the seams. A lack of scoring isn’t necessarily the problem; the Friars have been able to keep anybody from putting the ball in the basket.

Marred by injuries and inconsistency, Davis has had the lion’s share of adversity this season. If he wanted to, Davis could make the excuse that he inherited a team of spare parts assembled by his predecessor, Tim Welsh. Davis replaced Welsh in April of 2008 to revive a team that finished with losing records in three of the last four seasons and has languished in the bottom half of the ultra-competitive Big East Conference. Instead, Davis is looking towards the future for his team.

During last Monday’s Keno Davis Show at the Abbey restaurant in Providence, Davis espoused on his team’s struggles so far this season, and took a chance to look ahead to what next year holds in store for his team.

Currently, the team sits 15th in the Big East Conference standings, with a 4-14 record in the conference. At that point, the squad had dropped eight straight games. They have since lost two more.

Davis had a chance to discuss his take on motivating his team.

“What I try to do is when you’re winning games, I think you can go in and be hard on them and have hard progresses and crush ‘em and build ‘em back up,” Davis said. “When you’re losing you have to be careful about that because their psyche can be vulnerable. We held a scrimmage the other day. Other days, we’ll do shooting contests and other things to keep their spirits up.”

During the show, Davis pointed out that some of the team’s recent struggles are tied to players’ inability to capitalize on free-throw chances, referencing a Feb. 27 game against South Florida.

“I though the free-throw line was a big thing, not that we didn’t shoot well,” Davis said. “I felt that we were attacking the basket more, and so the percentages hurt us.”

Davis pointed to establishing consistency and a commitment to training that will serve as a starting point for Providence.

“We don’t have a go-to player, but that separates South Florida from us and it separates teams like Syracuse from South Florida,” Davis said. “We had a couple stops and a couple rebounds fall through our hands. We didn’t lose to teams that we’re better than; we lost to teams that are top-ten teams in the country. That should motivate our guys, so if we can get guys in the weight room, we can surprise a lot of people.”

It may start with the weight room, but the keys to success for Davis and Providence is going to be looking at the long-term recruitment efforts.

“I think where we’re at is a level that people will see us and say we need a bunch of things. Where we need to improve the program the most is better talent,” Davis said. “If we can find someone who’s a talent at another level, we’ll have scholarships available.

“At this point in our recruiting, we’re looking for players that are versatile. I don’t want someone that’s one-dimensional. I don’t want a specialist. Because the way we’re going to compete and get to the top level is guys that are going to be able to stretch defenses on offense, yet they’re going to guard guards on defense, they’re going to guard in the post, and they’re going to do that because of their talent and work ethic.”

Of course, there are no guarantees for what may come. And there’s the always-looming threat that a student-athlete may transfer and forego his eligibility to start a career in the NBA. As a result, Davis has learned not to discriminate.

“If you’re just going to decide on diamonds on the rough, you’ll have some great years, and you’ll jump in their and make the NCAA Tournament,” Davis said. “But you can’t sustain success like that. We have to mix top 50, top 100 kids in the country. Once we’re in the NCAA we have to rebuild where we’re able to compete each and every year.”

It looks like it may be a long off-season for Davis and the Friars. If not, next winter is going to be awfully cold.