Mike Davis is an Abusive Parent

Okay, I confess that I don’t know that for sure. In fact, he’s probably a really nice guy. He must be because he continues to convince talented basketball players to come to IU when he’s clearly an inferior coach.

But I have a serious problem with this (edited version, my emphasis):

Wednesday night, Davis kept his team behind closed doors for nearly 40 minutes after its most recent Big Ten road loss, a 72-54 drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin.

Very few players leaving the locker room had anything to say. Marco Killingsworth and Robert Vaden declined comment.

Roderick Wilmont said Davis challenged the team.

“He just asked us, ‘Who are you playing for?’” Wilmont said. “A lot of guys said their families and Indiana, and we’re just not playing for them right now. We’re embarrassing them. We’ve got to get this thing turned around.”

Junior college transfer Earl Calloway, who made his third start of the season at point guard, said Davis just told the team they needed to bounce back and bounce back quickly. IU plays Iowa on Saturday at Assembly Hall.

“He told us we need to pick our heads up, work harder and we need to win,” Calloway said.

Holy mother of controlling parents everywhere. So if you can’t teach your kids how to execute your offense, you blame them, call them an embarrassment, and heap shame on them? And then you tell them to hold their heads up like that’s going to make things better? It’s no wonder IU is in a tailspin. Davis is too busy defending himself as a worthy coach and blaming the players for the team’s troubles rather than figuring out how to save the season like a good coach should do.

“He told us we need to pick our heads up, work harder and we need to win.”

I’m seething with rage. That’s your big advice, “coach?” That’s like me telling a homeless person that all he needs to do is have a little pride and get a job. That’s all that needs to happen. The team just needs to work harder.

“We’ve got to get this thing turned around.”

What a simple strategy, “coach.” Is that like Bush saying our troops won’t leave Iraq until the job is done? Got any details in mind, “coach?” No? I didn’t think so.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve seen games where the IU players are running their asses off. These boys can flat out fly around the court. Unfortunately, when they’re allowed to run they look like chickens with their heads cut off because they have no direction. That direction, or lack of it, comes from the leader on the bench.

Based on what I’m reading about this team meeting, I’m predicting that IU will lose to Iowa on Saturday. The team is feeling bad already and Davis just shamed them some more. Honestly, I don’t feel embarrassed to be a fan of IU basketball. I’m embarrassed that Mike Davis is the coach of the program.