Middle Tennessee basketball: 5 potential candidates to replace Kermit Davis

Kermit Davis took Middle Tennessee basketball to three NCAA tournaments. He led it to 372 wins. He raised the program's national profile by a degree that is hard to measure.

Replacing the 16-year MTSU coach — who, according to reports, will be leaving to take over Ole Miss' men's basketball program — represents a pivotal moment for MTSU athletics and athletic director Chris Massaro.

Here are five potential candidates who could make sense as the Blue Raiders' next coach:

Andy Kennedy

Wouldn't that be something?

The former Ole Miss coach stepped down effective immediately on Feb. 18, in the middle of his 12th year leading the Rebels. 

He is the program's all-time winningest coach (245-156) and guided Ole Miss to an SEC tournament title in 2013 and two NCAA tournament appearances (2013, 2015).

He has a similarly fiery approach to coaching as Davis, though he is eight years younger than the 58-year-old Davis.

When the Ole Miss job first opened up, Davis, when asked about his thoughts on being a potential candidate to replace Kennedy, said, "I've been good friends with Andy Kennedy. I've enjoyed our series with Ole Miss over the last probably five or six years ... But my total focus is on Middle Tennessee basketball."

Darrin Horn

An experienced mid-major and SEC head coach, Horn, now an assistant at the Big 12's Texas, could make for a fit in Murfreesboro.

The 45-year-old spent five seasons coaching Western Kentucky, leading the 29-7 Hilltoppers to the 2008 NCAA Sweet 16. WKU also went to the NIT twice (2005-06) under Horn, who had a 111-48 record during his time in Bowling Green.

In April 2008, Horn was hired to take over South Carolina's program. He went 60-63 with only one postseason appearance in four seasons with the Gamecocks, and was fired in March 2012.

A Glasgow, Ky., native, Horn's wife is from Franklin, Tenn.

Casey Alexander

Alexander spent 16 years as an assistant at Belmont, working his way up to a head coaching position at Stetson before taking over at Lipscomb in 2013.

The long road is finally paying off.

Alexander, 45, has his Bisons in the NCAA tournament this year for the first time in program history after they won the Atlantic Sun conference tournament.

Calm in demeanor and offensive-minded, Alexander is something of a protege of longtime Belmont coach Rick Byrd, though Byrd insists he's learned just as much from Alexander.

Earl Grant

More than one outlet in Oxford named Grant as someone the Rebels should have been targeting as its new head coach. Now with Davis in that position, why not the Blue Raiders?

Grant, coach at College of Charleston, has his Cougars as a No. 13 seed in the NCAA tournament, just four years after the program went 9-24. 

The 41-year-old took over in Charleston in 2014 and has seen steady progress in each of his four seasons. Last year, the Cougars went 25-10 and earned a bid to the NIT.

Mark Fox

Fired after nine seasons as coach at Georgia, Fox would be a Power-Five answer for an MTSU program looking to sustain the momentum it has built over the final six years of the Davis era.

Fox, a native of Garden City, Kansas, went 163-133 in nine seasons with two NCAA tournament trips. Georgia went 18-15 Under Fox this season.

“I still want to coach and coach at a place where we can have success,” the 49-year-old Fox told reporters shortly after he was fired March 10. “I have had some calls already. I don’t know if we’ll make any decisions anytime soon.

“It’s in my blood. I’m a coach and an educator. How quickly I’ll look to jump back in the saddle I don’t know. I hope that one day I’ll have the opportunity to do it again.”