UC ousted basketball coach Larry Davis over federal assault case in North Carolina

James Pilcher | Cincinnati Enquirer

Larry A. Davis, the former University of Cincinnati associate head basketball coach, was forced out of his job this September because he was accused of an assault on an airplane in 2017.

Davis, 62, of Fort Wright, faces a plea hearing Thursday on a federal misdemeanor assault charge at the federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's accused of assaulting another passenger on a plane from Milwaukee to Charlotte.

UC previously called Davis' departure a retirement. But in a statement Tuesday, UC athletic director Mike Bohn said that UC had "commenced the process for separation" before the resignation.

"We learned of allegations against former employee Larry Davis regarding an off-campus incident in September 2017 which did not involve any member of the campus community," the statement begins.

"We immediately took proactive measures and suspended him from his duties while we took additional steps to ascertain more information. We could not substantiate the allegations at that time," Bohn said in the statement. Davis was suspended with pay from Sept. 15 to Sept. 27 last year, an Enquirer review of Davis' personnel files shows.

A Sept. 27 reinstatement letter from Bohn to Davis, sent on the UC general counsel's stationary and not the athletic department's, noted UC "reserves the right to take further action, up to and including dismissal, should new information be learned regarding the pending matter."

"We recently learned that the allegations may have additional support. … As Mr. Davis is no longer employed by the University, we have no further comment.” A UC spokesman also declined comment.

Neither Davis nor his North Carolina lawyer, Dhamian Blue, nor another lawyer, C. James Zeszutek, could be reached for comment.

Davis' resignation came less than two hours before it went into effect, the personnel file shows. (See below for full text.)

Federal prosecutors accuse Davis of assaulting a victim identified in court documents only as "T.C." The assault happened on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Charlotte on or about Sept. 12, 2017. Crimes committed aboard commercial aircraft are prosecuted in federal court.

Davis, who had more than 30 years in the college coaching profession, was an original member of head coach Mick Cronin's staff dating back to 2006. His two-sentence resignation letter to Bohn was sent at 10:51 p.m., 69 minutes before it went into effect.

Davis' contract with UC, obtained along with his resignation letter and other documents by The Enquirer under an Ohio Open Records Act request, included clauses that made conduct "seriously prejudicial to the best interests of the university" grounds for termination. Convictions on any charges other than traffic violations also were cause for dismissal. (See documents below for the full filings.)

Davis agreed to the facts in a two-page "factual basis" for a plea agreement in the case, including that "the defendant knowingly committed a simple assault" on a person at least 16 years old. The plea agreement in the case is not yet a public document.

Davis' contract was renewed in July and his annual salary stayed at $225,000. The new contract, however, increased the size of his thrice-annual retention payments by $3,000 to $28,000 each. One of those was paid July 1.

Davis helped Cronin rebuild the Bearcats into a perennial Top-25 program, which achieved 268 wins, two American Athletic Conference regular-season titles, an AAC tournament championship and eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances during his tenure. His recruiting efforts helped secure numerous Bearcats, including current NBA players Gary Clark and Jacob Evans III.

Davis’ experience came into the spotlight especially during the 2014-15 campaign when he led the UC coaching staff for the final 25 games of the season while Cronin was sidelined with a health issue. The Bearcats registered a 16-9 mark under his tutelage, a 23-11 mark at season’s end, a tie for third place in the American Athletic Conference and the school’s fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.

For his efforts, Davis was named a finalist for national coach of the year by the Sporting News. He was the first interim coach at the NCAA Tournament since Missouri’s Rich Daly and Michigan’s Steve Fisher in 1989. He also became the first non-head coach to lead a team through multiple games of a regular season and into the NCAA Tournament since 1961.

Cronin named Greg Youncofski as an assistant coach on Oct. 22.

Davis left a head coaching position at Furman University (1997-2006) to join the Bearcats. He recorded a 124-139 mark while revitalizing the Paladins’ program. Furman posted three winning seasons after 2002 and achieved its first winning record in conference play in over a decade, under Davis’ guidance.

As an assistant coach at Minnesota from 1994 to 1997, Davis helped the Golden Gophers compile a 69-29 record and make three postseason appearances. He was credited with the recruiting of All-Americans and future NBA Draft picks Bobby Jackson and Quincy Lewis.

Previous coaching stops included a year at Ball State (1993-94), four seasons at Wake Forest (1989-93), and four years at Delaware (1985-89). At Wake Forest, Davis helped the school rise from last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference to three straight NCAA tournament appearances (1991-93), coaching the likes of long-time NBA veteran Rodney Rogers and recruiting 15-time NBA All-Star Tim Duncan to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Davis launched his career as a graduate assistant at East Tennessee State following his graduation from Asbury College in 1978. After three seasons, he became a head coach in the high school ranks, serving a year at Cloverport (Kentucky) and two at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where he compiled a 51-9 record.

Enquirer archives contributed to this report.