Kermit Davis to coach Middle Tennessee basketball through NIT before leaving for Ole Miss

MURFREESBORO — Before anything else, Kermit Davis had to get one thing straight.

He is Middle Tennessee’s basketball coach for the remainder of the season, whether it ends Sunday at Louisville (5:30 p.m.) in the second round of the NIT, or somewhere deeper in the tournament.

More:Middle Tennessee basketball coach Kermit Davis leaving for Ole Miss

“That was the first thing that was talked about with Ole Miss, first thing talked about with (MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro and president Sidney McPhee),” said Davis, who is leaving for Ole Miss after accepting the Rebels’ head coaching position. “That’s just the way we’re built here and everybody was 1,000 percent on board. And I think our players will play their tails off.”

After the game at Louisville, Davis will head to Oxford, Miss., where Ole Miss will hold an introductory press conference for him at 5:30 p.m. Monday. From there, the 58-year-old will head back to Murfreesboro to begin preparation for the NIT quarterfinals, should third-seeded MTSU knock off the second-seeded Cardinals on Sunday.

The Blue Raiders were informed that Davis was leaving MTSU — and that he would remain their coach through the NIT — during a team meeting at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

More:Is Middle Tennessee’s next basketball coach at Bridgestone Arena?

“We didn’t have a big dialogue,” Davis said. “It was kind of like a regular meeting. We watched tape just like we normally do.”

Irregular, though, was Massaro’s 10-minute talk with the team.

“The last two or three weeks when I’ve been talking to (Davis), every time I walk into his office, he’s breaking down game tapes,” Massaro said. “So the coaching piece hasn’t changed one bit.

“That’s what I emphasized with the team today. I said, ‘Your coach is still working hard, he’s still preparing for games.’ So we’ve got a lot of confidence going to the NIT that everybody’s going to be together and he’s going to coach them the same way he’s always coached them."

That was the case on Tuesday, when an impassioned Blue Raiders squad dominated Vermont 91-64 at Murphy Center in the opening round of the NIT.

"I was so proud of our team against Vermont," said Davis, MTSU's all-time winningest coach. "I think they proved that they played for each other even with the disappointment and some speculation about me. It shows you the culture of Middle Tennessee basketball (was) at the forefront on Tuesday night.

“I’m going to be the coach at Middle Tennessee until the final second goes out. That was the most important thing to me, is this team right here and preparing them in the best way possible for Louisville on Sunday night."

MTSU has looked to a similar situation playing out with UCF’s football team this past season. After accepting the head coaching position at Nebraska in early December, coach Scott Frost stayed with the Knights for about another month, leading them to a win over Auburn in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.

“To me, that was kind of a model of how we can finish this thing,” Massaro said. “I told the team today that he’s like the fifth graduating senior. He’s going out with this class, so let’s do it in New York."

The response from MTSU players, Davis said, has been positive.

"I think they understand," Davis said. "I think they know deeply how much I care for this place and how much I care for them. And we’re going to work like heck to see this through and try to go and play well against a good Louisville team."