We have not really kept up with Ole Miss basketball because it is not interesting or exciting.  Ole Miss had a chance to make a good hire when they parted ways with Andy Kennedy, but they missed on this one.  Davis had good numbers at MTSU that included NCAA appearances, but he just cannot produce at Ole Miss.  Look at Alabama's hiring of Nate Oats.  He was a good coach, young and moving up.  Alabama was no powerhouse in basketball, but now they are respectable. 

For some reason Kermit Davis just does not have what it takes to coach in the SEC.  Perhaps it is his methodology, connection with the players, or basketball coaching techniques.  Ole Miss is not doing any better with Davis than they would have done with Kennedy.  It is time for Keith Carter to be looking for a potential basketball coach at Ole Miss and plan to make the change after next season.

Kermit Davis Contract with Ole Miss
Beginning in 2019, Kermit was given a contract extension and a deal averaging about $3M per year.  Click the link for an article and the details.
https://www.oxfordeagle.com/2019/04/04/details-released-on-kermit-davis-contract-extension/




2020 NCAA Basketball Head Coaches' Pay:
https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/mens-basketball/coach



Kermit is paid well for his poor results
At $3M per year, Davis is one of the top paid NCAA basketball coaches.  Although he took the Rebels to the NCAA in his first year, he has failed to do much significantly positive with the Ole Miss basketball team since his first year.  At Ole Miss he is 43–37 (.538)  Overall and 19–25 (.432) in SEC play.  These numbers are not good and show that he is unable to win at Ole Miss.

As you can see by Davis' coaching records below, he appears to be a good coach in lower tier conferences.  It appears from his records, he is not a good coach for Power 5 Conferences.  Davis was sub par at both Texas A&M and currently at Ole Miss.  He did well in both the Big Sky/Big West and Sunbelt/USA conferences.

Here are Kermit Davis' all time records as a head coach:

Season Team    Overall Conference        Standing             Postseason
Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) (1988–1990)             
1988–89             Idaho    25–6      13–3      1st         NCAA Round of 64
1989–90             Idaho    25–6      13–3      1st         NCAA Round of 64
Idaho (first):      50–12 (.806)      26–6 (.813)    
                 
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1990–1991)
1990–91             Texas A&M        8–21      2–14      9th       
Texas A&M:       8–21 (.276)        2–14 (.125)           
          
Idaho Vandals (Big West Conference) (1996–1997)          
1996–97             Idaho    13–17   5–11      5th (East)          
Idaho (second): 13–17 (.433)      5–11 (.313)                      
Idaho (total):     63–29 (.685)      31–17 (.646)        
           
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Sun Belt Conference) (2002–2013)
2002–03             Middle Tennessee          16–14   9–5        2nd (East)
2003–04             Middle Tennessee          17–12   8–6        3rd (East)          
2004–05             Middle Tennessee          19–12   7–7        3rd (East)          
2005–06             Middle Tennessee          16–12   8–6        2nd (East)
2006–07             Middle Tennessee          15–17   8–10      5th (East)          
2007–08             Middle Tennessee          17–15   11–7      3rd (East)          
2008–09             Middle Tennessee          18–14   10–8      3rd (East)          
2009–10             Middle Tennessee          19–14   13–5      2nd (East)           CIT First Round
2010–11             Middle Tennessee          16–16   10–6      2nd (East)
2011–12             Middle Tennessee          27–7      14–2      1st (East)              NIT Quarterfinals
2012–13             Middle Tennessee          28–6      19–1      1st (East)              NCAA First Four
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Conference USA) (2013–2018)
2013–14             Middle Tennessee          24–9      13–3      T–1st    
2014–15             Middle Tennessee          19–17   9–9        6th        CIT First Round
2015–16             Middle Tennessee          25–10   13–5      2nd       NCAA Round of 32
2016–17             Middle Tennessee          31–5      17–1      1st         NCAA Round of 32
2017–18             Middle Tennessee          25–8      16–2      1st         NIT Second Round
Middle Tennessee:         332–188 (.638)  185–83 (.690)          
       
Ole Miss Rebels (Southeastern Conference) (2018–present)
2018–19             Ole Miss             20–13   10–8      T–6th    NCAA Round of 64
2019–20             Ole Miss             15–17   6–12      12th     
2020–21             Ole Miss             8–7        3–5                     
Ole Miss:            43–37 (.538)      19–25 (.432)                   
Total:    446–275 (.619)                             

Options for Ole Miss
Ole Miss does not need to renew Kermit Davis' contract this year.  He should be given a plan that includes winning in 2021-2022.  If he has a good season in 2021-2022, then 2022-2023 will be his trial year.  He must win that season in order for his job to be maintained at Ole Miss.  In the meantime, Keith Carter needs to get a short list of potential basketball head coaches and start gauging interest in the Ole Miss job.  If Kermit does not produce in 2021-2022, then he should be replaced.

I really don't care about basketball so I guess that gave me a bit of an outsider's view when it came to this hire. He's not a very good coach. I didn't understand the hype in his first couple of seasons. We lost a lot of games that we had huge leads in. We lost a lot of games that we had no business losing.