DETROIT (10/16/2020) -- Coaching is a profession that usually sees a young individual get mentored and groomed and when that day comes, he can look back and see how much he has learned. Some have that mentor as just another coach, but some are lucky enough to have someone a little closer to home.

That is what the Davis family has at the University of Detroit Mercy, where head coach Mike Davis enters his third year on the sidelines with son and assistant coach Mike Davis Jr. sitting right next to him.

"It is really special," said Mike Davis. "In the hotel, on the bus, going over scouting reports and just him sitting there on the bench. That is so special to have and something that very few people can say they have been a part of."

Mike Davis Jr. has known his dad as a coach his entire life and from up close too, playing for him in college at Indiana and at UAB. But in the last nine years, he has been right next to him on the bench spending six years on staff at Texas Southern and now in his third year in the Motor City. The duo had to overcome some APR problems at TSU, but soon they had that program rolling, winning four regular season and conference tournament championships and appearing in four NCAA Tournaments with one NIT bid. In 2018, the Tigers won their first-ever NCAA Tournament game, defeating North Carolina Central in the First Four match-up. 

For Mike Davis Jr., there was a family member who got him into coaching, but it is not the same person that sits next to him on the bench these days. 

"Actually it was my late cousin who got me into coaching, DeJuan Davis," said Mike Davis Jr. "I didn't know what I wanted to do after finishing basketball. I always thought I was going to be in the pros so after college, I was wondering what to do and an opportunity came for me to coach AAU basketball in Birmingham (Alabama). There was a kid, Justin Coleman, and I saw him and my cousin said I should coach him and I was like, why would he want to play for me. I never thought about coaching, but I did it and I absolutely loved it. I said to myself, you can get paid to do this. The feeling was so close to playing, so close to the competitiveness as playing because you want to win and I just got that same feeling and I knew this is what I wanted to do."

"It was a little surprising that he got into coaching because he never talked about it," said Mike Davis. "He talked about a lot of other things in life he wanted to do. I thought he was going to become a chef to be honest with you, but he has always had a great knowledge of basketball. We always had conversations about basketball and watch and watch and watch."

After coaching AAU, he landed his first college job at Chipola Junior College in Florida in 2011-12 before joining his dad at Texas Southern. The first years were vital to him as a coach and how he should start his career.

"When I told my dad I wanted to do this, he told me to go somewhere and get some experience someplace else, that way you are not always under me and see some different things. I coached AAU and at junior college. We went to final four's at AAU so I was able to start there," said Mike Davis Jr.

"He has his own way, it's not just about following me," said Mike Davis. "We always go back and forth on certain things. He wants to play man-to-man, he wants us to play a certain way, play faster, but we always go back and forth on some things and I think that is good. He is going to be his own person, his own coach, and that helps me and all of us that he thinks a bit differently than me."

In his nine years with his dad, he has learned and earned a lot more trust and that is something his dad is proud of. 

"Coming here, he has taken on more responsibilities," said Mike Davis. "He has always been active in recruiting. He is working on our defense more this year. He has taken more leadership in practice and in drills and has been very active.

"We don't agree on everything," said Mike Davis Jr. "I have my own mind, but we respect each other and we know we can talk about different things we think we need to do so we can be successful as a program. But he listens because he respects me and knows I am not just saying something. It's because I saw something that we need to do. In games, I think about 70 or 80 percent of the time, he listens and I love that. There are a lot of people who work for someone and their voice is never heard, it's falling on deaf ears and I love that part, that as a staff, he listens."

Mike Davis Jr. is now 35 years old and with 10 years of coaching experience already under his belt and it is only a matter of time before he gets his first head coaching job. His dad got the call at age 39 -- just a few days before his 40th birthday -- to take over at Indiana as the interim head coach.  

"I defiantly see that and I know he wants to do that and become a head coach," said Mike Davis. "He is going to be a head coach. He has been so active and has done a good job recruiting a lot of the players we have here and I can see him being a head coach in the next couple of years. I think it's really about continuing to give him the responsibilities to do more and to coach more, coach during games. I think that is really what he needs, that is what a lot of young coaches need is to just coach more and be given that trust."

"I feel that obviously growing up with my dad, it was basketball and I always had a basketball mind, I just never knew it could be on full display until I was coaching and making certain adjustments," said Mike Davis Jr. "I always thought that as a player, but growing up in his house, I learned how to see basketball the right way all the time."

The two men have taken different paths in the coaching profession, in the game of basketball overall, too. Mike Davis was Mr. Basketball in the state of Alabama as a senior in high school. He was a starter for four years in college and scored over 1,000 points and was known to be a standout defender. He was drafted in the second round of the 1983 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and played professionally in Switzerland and Italy and back in the states in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) with the Topeka Sizzlers.

He started coaching as an assistant at Miles College before moving to Venezuela and coaching professionally there too, including the country's national team. He then came back to the states and was an assistant coach in the CBA with the Wichita Falls Texans and then with the Chicago Rockers, where he also was a player. He then was an assistant at Alabama and Indiana before taking over the Hoosiers as interim head coach in 2000 and leading them to the national championship game in 2002. 

"I never knew I wanted to be a coach until I was helping with basketball camps," said Mike Davis. "Very few people when they are playing really think about coaching because they are thinking about playing and continuing to play professionally, here or overseas."

For Mike Davis Jr., as a prep, he attended Bloomington North High School and Bridgton Academy (Maine). He led North in scoring with 16.5 points per game, while also averaging 7.0 rebounds in 2003 and was selected All-Conference twice and still shares a school record for three-pointers in a game with seven. At Bridgton, he averaged 10.0 points per contest in 2003-04 prior to enrolling in junior college at Blackhawk Community College as a freshman before transferring to Indiana. At Blackhawk CC, he was selected All-Conference and to the Region IV Second Team after posting 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, leading his team to a 16-12 record, which tied the best record in school history.

"As a role player, there are certain things that I had to be in tune with more than that superstar does," said Mike Davis Jr. "I have to make sure I am helping on the weak side, I need to make sure that I see everything, that I am always hustling. I am not the superstar so I need to know and do everything right on the court. I think growing up with my dad and seeing things the right way and then as a role player seeing everything that needed to be done, that only helps me as a coach." 
 
He transferred to Indiana the following year and redshirted and then went with his dad to UAB. After sitting out the first semester, he saw action in 17 games with four starts as a redshirt sophomore and had a career-best 11 points at Marshall and scored 10 points against SMU. He then played in all 34 games as a junior and 25 games as a senior before getting into coaching at the AAU level. 

"One thing that I am lucky about is that I have my dad right there to learn from," said Mike Davis Jr. "He didn't have anyone to learn from like I did, he had to do a lot of it on his own and I know that I am lucky to have that. He is my role model."
 
Throughout the years, the coaching duo has learned from one another and one of the things that Mike Davis Jr. says he has with the program is helping the players understand what his dad is expecting, especially one Titan in younger brother Antoine Davis. 

"They're brothers and they have a great relationship and he looks out for him," said Mike Davis. "He is the one that has to sometimes break down to Antoine on the things I am saying and what needs to get done because he can relate it better at times."

"Sometimes, it's my job with the players and with Antoine just to let them know what he wants out there, what he is looking for. We all get very emotional and I need to be the one to just break it down a little more because he has been my coach my whole life," said Mike Davis. Jr. 

But one of the best lessons he has taken from his dad has been on the business side of coaching. 

"One thing that I learned for sure is don't buy a house," said Mike Davis Jr. "Don't buy a house until it's somewhere you know you are going to be for a long time. My dad had two or three mortgages going on at once. It took him forever to sell the house in Bloomington and we just sold the house in Alabama in the last year so never buy a house. That's the best advice I think," said Mike Davis Jr., laughing.