Ole Miss fires men's basketball coach Kermit Davis

Mississippi has made a men’s basketball coaching change.

The school announced Friday that Kermit Davis had been fired. Ole Miss is 10-18 overall and 2-13 in the SEC with three regular-season games to go.

"We thank Coach Davis for his dedication to the Ole Miss basketball program and our student-athletes," Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said in a statement. "No one wanted to bring a title home to Mississippi more than him, and we appreciate the passion for that goal that he shared with our team every day. As he has throughout his career, Coach Davis worked tirelessly to produce a winner, and we wish him, Betty and his family the very best in the future."

Davis was hired at Ole Miss after the 2017-18 season after a long run at Middle Tennessee State. The Rebels made the NCAA tournament in his first season and were ranked as high as 18th in the AP Top 25. But Mississippi hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since and has finished above .500 just once in those succeeding seasons. Davis leaves Ole Miss with a career record of 74-79 at the school.

The Rebels were 13-19 a season ago and finished 4-14 in the SEC. Only Georgia had a worse record. But Davis stayed on as Mississippi’s coach as six teams in the conference hired new coaches in the offseason, including Missouri and Georgia, the teams directly next to Ole Miss in the 2021-22 standings.

Now Ole Miss is the first SEC team to make a coaching change in 2022-23. Assistant coach Win Case will be the team's interim coach for the remainder of the season.

"My family and I are extremely thankful for the opportunity to lead the Ole Miss men's basketball program the past five years," Davis said. "We appreciate Chancellor [Glenn] Boyce, Keith Carter, the staff and players for their support and work ethic on behalf of our program, and I wish Ole Miss the best going forward. Oxford is a special place to live and work."

A Mississippi native and graduate of Mississippi State, Davis was at MTSU for nearly two decades before he came to Ole Miss. The Blue Raiders went 332-188 in his time with the school and won six regular-season conference titles. MTSU made three NCAA tournament appearances in Davis’ tenure and won 24 or more games on six different occasions.