Former UAB coach And Current Memphis Assistant Mike Davis Sits Down With Steve Irvine
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 2, 2025
Mike Davis is extremely familiar with Bartow Arena. He spent six seasons as the UAB men’s basketball head coach, beginning in 2006 and finishing in 2012. So there will be a lot of familiarity when he returns to his old home on Sunday afternoon for what should be a raucous Bartow Arena environment with Memphis in town and a share of the American Athletic Conference lead at stake.
Memphis comes into the 3 p.m. game, which will be shown nationally on ESPN, with a one-game lead over UAB and North Texas in the AAC standings. Each team has three games left in the regular season.
Davis knows a thing or two about the UAB-Memphis basketball rivalry. However, it will be a different feeling for Davis, who is now serving as an assistant coach under Penny Hardaway at Memphis. It will be the first time that Davis has been part of a game inside Bartow Arena since he was fired at UAB following in the 2011-12 season.
Davis compiled a 412-360 record during his time as a NCAA Division I head coach at Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern and Detroit Mercy. While at Detroit Mercy, his youngest son, Antoine, became the NCAA leader in career 3-pointers and finished second on the career list for most points.
Earlier this week, Davis took time for a phone conversation to talk about a variety of topics, including his time at UAB, his current job at Memphis and what could be his retirement future as the owner of a food truck.
You are in a different coaching role this year. Has this been a good year for you?
“I mean, it's been great, you know, working for Coach (Penny Hardaway). It’s, personally, been a big-time opportunity to work for him because of his basketball mind and who he is as a person. We talked on the phone a lot and he wanted me to come up and kind of work with his coaches. So, I came up and he was like ‘I want you on the floor.’ Working with him is relaxing because he knows every phase of the game. He knows it really, really good. How am I trying to say this? It’s amazing but it’s not amazing because any time you have been one of the best ever (players) in the game, your mind has to match that. You know, you can be a really, really good player and not have a great (basketball IQ). But you can't be an elite player without having an elite mind. So, you know, I'm really enjoying it. I never lost my love for the game. But, you know, I've got my energy where it needs to be. I just enjoy working with Coach.”
Did you know Coach Hardaway well before taking the job?
“We met when my youngest son (Antoine) played in a Super 60 in New Orleans, like an AAU event. Coach knows everybody. Like he knows people that they have no idea that he knows them because he's just a basketball person. You know, one day we was talking about Gene Keady. I'm like, man, how you know Gene Keady. The names he brings up is like amazing. Come on, man. He knows players and everything. So we talked on the phone and like I said, I came up, man. I’ve just been enjoying it.”
Will it be a weird feeling for you returning to Bartow Arena?
“No, it’s not a weird feeling because I’ve been gone for so long. I haven’t spent much time in Birmingham, to be honest with you, because I’m kind of like a (stay at home) person. Wherever I go, wherever I am, I'm going to stay there 98 percent of the time. The only time I go anywhere else is the games I’m playing (on the road). When I was in Houston, I was in Houston. When I was in Detroit, I was in Detroit. When I was in Birmingham, I was in Birmingham. Now, Birmingham was great for me and my family. I've said it all the time. They didn't mistreat me or anything, it was just the way things happen. I look forward to seeing some faces I haven't seen in a long time. You know, when we played them (in Memphis), I wanted to see Aaron Johnson, Robert Williams. It’s like, ‘Wow, man, it’s great to see them.’ I'm not very good at staying in touch with my former players but I'm good at keeping up with them, with what they're doing. To be able to see them, man, like you haven't seen your kids in a long time, you know. I'm proud of both of those guys because anytime you get a chance to coach at your school, there's nothing more special than that, I don't think.”
What jumps out when you think about your UAB days?
“When I got here to Memphis, there was a mural of the years they won the conference. I saw all the years listed and one year that was missing, I said ‘We won it that year.’ The year that Preston Purifoy made that 3-pointer to win that game at Southern Mississippi. That was a great memory. I can remember cutting the nets down after the home game when we won the championship. I tell people all the time, I had a good record at UAB.
But, my biggest memory at UAB, and this may sound like another world and the craziest thing I could ever think of. My biggest memory at UAB never came to reality. And that was what would have happened if we had gotten Demarcus Cousins, the big boy (Jon Kreft) from Florida State, Casey Mitchell, Eric Bledsoe (and others). We had Eli Millsap, Aaron Johnson, Jamarr Sanders. What would have happened with all those guys together? My biggest regret was not getting a chance to put those guys on the floor at the same time. That's a powerful team. That’s my biggest memory, but it can't be a memory because it never happened. But, at the same time, I can't tell you how many days that I've thought of that. Like, wow, we had Cousins committed. We had Kreft committed. Casey Mitchell went to West Virginia, a big-time shooter. Man, we had some guys coming. What would have happened if we would have put that team together in Birmingham?
Other than that, I had great memories. My son (Antoine), he cried all the way to Houston. He didn't want to leave Birmingham. Could you imagine me coaching him there? That would have been sensational. That would have been crazy, man.”
How long did it take you to get over the hurt of the way it ended at UAB?
“It didn't take me long. I love coaching basketball. My biggest disappointment was I didn’t get what I wanted to get done there, as far as getting those guys to the court. My record speaks for itself there. said, my record kind of speaks for itself there. Right. My first year was a wash because everybody (left). You know, in the next four years, we were pretty good. You know, we tried to play some really good teams. Some teams were scared to play us. We played Florida and Virginia. We played DePaul and they were good. DePaul had just beat Kansas. We played Cincinnati, we played Butler. You know, we played some good teams. It's part of what we do as coaches because a lot of things are out of your control. You know, I go back to Indiana and their arena and locker room looks (much better) than when I had the job. I actually haven’t been back to UAB but I’ve seen some pictures and they look beautiful to me.
But, again, my biggest regret was not getting those guys to the floor. You can't say that would be the best team ever (at UAB), but from a professional turnout, the way they turned out, they could have been special. The team is more than just talent. You know, a team is guys playing together, so I'm never going to say I compare them to any team. But, boy, that would have been pretty special to have those type of players, to coach those type of players, I should say.”
When you went to Texas Southern and had success, did that energize you as a coach?
“I’ll tell you a funny story. The year I got to Texas Southern, UAB and Texas Southern were supposed to be playing that year. I canceled the game. I’m not going to do that. I'm not going to bring the team in to play after I just left, that wouldn’t be right. Brian Mackin and I, we talked about it and we canceled the game.
But Texas Southern was really good. It was a tough job. I’ve had tough jobs, really tough jobs. Coming to Memphis, being here, I’ve never been at a place like this before. The resources, the facilities are second to none, the travel is amazing. Even when I was Indiana, we didn’t have the facilities and resources that we have here. When I went to Texas Southern, they probably had more resources than Detroit. Living (situation) and everything was way better. So, the jobs I’ve had have been really difficult jobs. To be able to walk into a situation where everything's provided for you, I’ve never had that. Even when I was at Indiana, I never had that. When I got the Indiana job, there was a war going on with Coach Knight not being there. But I had to experience that. When I got the UAB job, it was kind of like a war behind the scenes.
Anywhere I’ve ever been, I actually pulled for the school after I left. Most people wouldn’t do that but that’s not me. Anytime you’ve taken care of my family, why wouldn’t I be indebted to you forever?”
Has being at Memphis changed your perception of the program at all?
“I’ve always known the Memphis tradition, as far as the city of Memphis being loaded with basketball players. You know, back when Keith Lee and and Coach Hardaway and Andre Turner and all those guys, I’ve always known the history of Memphis basketball. There have been a lot of players that go off and play at other places. Being here has made me appreciate big time basketball. The fans here are super, super good. We'll go to a game and they'll be in the hotel lobby. There is always Memphis people at the games. It’s kind of like how Indiana was. That's when you know. You don't see just one or two blue shirts, but you see a lot of Memphis shirts. No matter where we go, you see the Memphis people there. And I love that.”
How would you describe your role at Memphis?
“It's just to have conversations with Coach. He doesn’t need help basketball wise, because, I’m telling you, he's really, really good. I know what winning looks like and I know what losing looks like. When you've won at the highest level and you've lost at the lowest level, you know what it looks like. My thing is to try to prevent everything, from guys not jogging off the court to how you get off the bus to the conversations you have to how you watch film and how you stretch. I know what it looks like, so my job is to (work on those things). I’m with the big guys, but Coach works the big guys out. I watch film with them, I break film down, I clip film, I clip, I clip a lot of stuff to show to (the players). I write notes and cards and everything. I talk to Coach about a lot of things but basketball wise he’s a genius. I love the role I have here. He taught me a lot. They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, yes you can.”
Do you have hopes to get back into head coaching?
“I'm just not going to take no more tough jobs. I love it here. You know, of course you want to be a head coach. I'm telling you, most of the time had in my jobs was so tough, man. You have to worry about everything but basketball a lot of times. It's the last thing that you have to worry about because there are so many other things. I love it here. If Coach wants me back, I want to win a championship for him.”
How did owning a food truck come about?
“When COVID went down, you were hearing about cutbacks and all this stuff. You know, people were talking about all this stuff getting knocked out over time. I started thinking about what could I do in case basketball is no longer there for me. I mean, at that point, you didn't know where basketball was going to go in the whole world. They couldn't get this thing (under control), you didn’t know how many people were going to actually die from it. Or if they're going to ever have sports again at that level. So, you know, what could you do? I couldn't go buy a restaurant or store. I started thinking about what I could do for the neighborhood and all kind of stuff like that.
I started doing my research on food trucks. And once I started doing the research, it’s kind of liking buying a car. When you want that car, you see that car everywhere. So, I was seeing food trucks everywhere. I started researching food trucks, and my son put me on Instagram. Man, once you do something on Instagram, that’s all you see. I'm like, ‘Oh, man, I want to do that.’ I don't know how to cook. So, you know I thought then what do chefs want? They want their own restaurant. They can’t really afford a restaurant because of overhead. I thought about hiring a chef. When I researched food trucks, it was like they were $50,000, $60,000. You can spend that on a car. A food truck is something you can always have and it’s not like you have to make all your money back tomorrow. If you just make a certain amount of money a week, a certain amount of money a month, at some point everything is profit.
You can sell hamburgers or chicken or fish. You know, that's low cost. I said, ‘Man, I want a food truck.’ I bought a food truck from a guy and it wasn't even his. I was cheated. Trust me, it taught me a lot. I went and bought a food truck from another guy and all he was doing was scamming people. So, two food trucks I bought and both were scams. So, then I said, let me go to the people who build food trucks and buy it that way instead of buying one from an owner on an Instagram ad.
So now, I’ve got a nice food truck, opened up in Dallas. It's called ‘Kings on Wheels.’ And I got (a picture of) my son, Antoine, who's the all-time leading three-point shooter (in the NCAA), on the back of it eating slider with a crown on his head. He’s the king of the 3s, you know? So I got that, and when we go play in the (AAC Tournament in Fort Worth), I'm going to get it and bring it over so guys can eat or whatever. My goal is to get about 10 or 12 of them. What I did was I hired a chef and I’m giving him a large percentage of the truck. We do catering and we do the food truck. It’s really nice. My chef) has a large range of (sliders), chicken, salmon and other stuff. He’s really good. He's been on TV with his stuff before and he's really, really good. His mom helps him out. It's beautiful the way it’s set up.”
Final thing, what do you think of when you think about your experience in the UAB-Memphis rivalry?
“Well, I can remember this, we were excited to play them (in 2007-08). We had a really good team with Robert Vaden and those guys. They were undefeated, I think. Man, we had the game won. We turned the ball over a couple of times at the end and we fouled (Chris Douglas-Roberts) for a three-point play and they end up going up on us. Instead of going to overtime, they took the lead. We ended up hitting a shot at the buzzer but it was too late. That’s my biggest memory. We thought that when we saw them again, on their senior night, that we had a chance to win. We had a good team. We should have been in the NCAA Tournament. We finished second but by Memphis beating us so bad (in the rematch) it knocked us out. It doesn’t seem right. When we lost to Memphis like that, it’s like they thought we don’t deserve to get in the tournament. We should have gotten an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Memphis ended up drilling everybody that year to get to the championship game.”