Assistant Coach Keno Davis
Keno Davis, who served six years as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State, was the first assistant to join the men's basketball coaching staff at Drake University under coach Tom Davis on May 19, 2003.
"One advantage I had in hiring Keno is he had so many years on the bench with me that he has a real good idea what we're trying to do and can communicate that to the players and coaching staff," said Drake head coach Tom Davis. "The other he had was the six years he spent with Gary Garner (Southeast Missouri State head coach), who is one of the finest fundamental teachers in all of basketball.˛
Keno Davis serves as the recruiting coordinator for Drake. In addition, he also oversees Drakešs defensive game scheme.
Keno Davis also assists with the teamšs advance scouting work, game plan preparation, individual skill development, and scheduling.
Davis had been involved in all aspects of the basketball program at Southeast Missouri State which advanced to the 2000 NCAA Tournament after posting a 24-6 record, winning both the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships.
As the head assistant coach, Keno Davis was instrumental in Southeast Missouri State landing the No. 1 recruiting class in the Ohio Valley Conference in 2001-02.
"Coach Davis (Keno) did an outstanding job for us ," said Southeast coach and former Drake coach Gary Garner. "I certainly hated to lose Keno, but I understood his desire to join his Dad at Drake. I think he has the potential to become a Division I head coach."
He also served for two years as an assistant at Southern Indiana (1995-97) before joining Garner's first staff at Southeast Missouri State.
Keno Davis was on the coaching staff that helped lead Southern Indiana to consecutive Great Lakes Valley Conference championships and appearances in the 1996 and 1997 NCAA Division II Tournament.
"Keno also spent two years with Bruce Pearl at Southern Indiana so he had eight good years of experience since graduating from Iowa," Davis added.
Originally from Easton, Pa., Davis also served as an undergraduate assistant at Iowa from 1991-1995. He is the co-author of "Pressure Defense˛ which was published in 1994.