Only once since grade school has Mike Davis not spent the winter either playing basketball or teaching it.

Cut by the Milwaukee Bucks in training camp before the 1983 NBA season, Davis opted to put his basketball career on hold a few months in order to finish his degree.

College Hoops Countdown, No. 31: SWAC

• Mike Davis prefers the challenge of winning at Texas Southern to the 'torture' of taking a year off

• SWAC capsule preview: Balanced league will crown a new champ this year

"That was like torture," Davis said. "I've been around basketball all my life. That experience taught me I can't be doing nothing during basketball season."

Memories of that miserable winter fueled Davis' efforts to find a new coaching gig this offseason after UAB fired him in March. Even though he'll receive $625,000 from UAB this year because he had one season left on his contract, the 52-year-old Alabama native insists he'd have coached a high school or junior high team before he took a full year off from basketball.

Texas Southern spared Davis from a return to the youth ranks in August when athletic director Dr. Charles McClelland hired him as the school's interim coach. It surprised many in basketball circles that a SWAC school could land a man who led UAB to four straight 20-win seasons and took Indiana to the 2002 national title game, but Davis found the job attractive for many reasons.

He recognized the Texas Southern administration's financial commitment to building the basketball program. He and his wife felt comfortable moving from Birmingham to Houston. And he felt the competition and training available in Houston could be beneficial to his 13-year-old son's basketball aspirations.

More than anything, though, Texas Southern appealed to Davis because he felt wanted. Whereas Indiana could never embrace the coach who followed legendary Bob Knight and UAB soured on him as attendance dwindled and postseason success proved elusive, Davis has received an enthusiastic welcome from players, fans and administrators at Texas Southern.

"I think sometimes after a couple years people have tended to take me for granted in the past," Davis said. "They appreciate me here. Everyone I've met is happy I'm here. That's beautiful. When everyone is excited about you being somewhere, that makes you want to get up and go to work."

For Texas Southern, a splashy hire like Davis meshes well with McClelland's vision for basketball spearheading the resurgence of his athletic department.

Texas Southern has long been known more for academic woes and NCAA compliance issues than athletic success, but administrators have invested millions during McClelland's four-year tenure in hopes of improving the school's reputation and emerging as the powerhouse of the SWAC.

They've increased coaching salaries and recruiting and travel budgets in football and men's and women's basketball. They've hired ex-NCAA staffers to beef up the compliance staff and assist in instituting academic reform. And they've drastically upgraded Texas Southern's athletic facilities, leasing the Houston Dynamo's newly built stadium as a permanent home for the football program, installing suites and a new floor in the basketball arena and renovating the locker rooms and offices for both men's and women's hoops.

"We want to increase our status in basketball, and I think you're starting to see that Texas Southern is starting to put the resources in," McClelland said. "Our budget for men's and women's basketball has doubled since I've been athletic director, and it shows our level of commitment. We know resources is the name of the game."

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