COOKEVILLE, TENNESSEE — It was always a dream of former East Hall basketball standout Frank Davis to play at the highest level.
“That was my goal,” Davis said Tuesday during a phone interview. “I had an offer at a low level pro league but I decided to turn that down. I had some injuries so that kind of factored into it.”
At the same time, his college coach at the time, Steve Payne at Tennessee Tech, made a subtle suggestion.
“Coach Payne thought maybe I should give coaching a try. He told me he thought I could make a good coach,” Davis said. “At first I wasn’t sure but I thought about it for a couple of days.”
Davis eventually took Payne’s advice and six years later he has vaulted himself into the conversation as one of the best assistants in the country.
Davis last week was one of 30 assistant coaches nationally recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), earning a spot on the 2016 Under Armour 30-under-30 Team.
The announcement came during the annual NABC Convention at the Cullen Theater at Wortham Center in Houston and was held in conjunction with the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four.
“That was crazy. I was totally surprised. Coach Payne asked me if I knew someone at Armour to get that award,” Davis said with a laugh. "It's definitely a great honor and something that I'm proud of. It's a humbling experience.”
Davis recently completed his fourth year as a member of the Golden Eagle coaching staff and third as an assistant coach. He served one year as the program's director of basketball operations before earning a promotion to assistant. He began coaching at Piedmont College in Demorest during the 2010-11 season, before taking a graduate assistant coaching position at Lee University during 2011-12 before heading back to his alma mater.
"Anytime one of our guys gets an award, it's obviously well deserved," Payne said. "Frank works extremely hard and has been a Tennessee Tech guy for a long time, first as a player and now as a coach, and he's done a lot for our program."
Davis, who helped lead East Hall to a pair of state titles in 2003 and 2005 and a state runner-up finish in 2004, said he didn’t totally understand all the things that went into helping a young player reach their potential until he traded his jersey for a suit and a different spot on the bench.
“There is so much that goes into running a team and a program,” Davis said. “Not long after I started coaching I called some of my old coaches and apologized for not listening to them more.”
In college, he was a four-year member of the Golden Eagle squad and finished his career at Tech at the top of the all-time 3-point shooting list with 251 treys. He logged two seasons with a 3-point shooting accuracy over 40 percent (42.9 percent in 2008-09 and 44.4 percent in 2009-10) and is No. 2 on the Golden Eagle list of career games played with 125.
He almost got to play with fellow Hall County standout Zac Swansey, now the West Hall boys basketball coach. Swansey is best known for draining the game-winning shot for Georgia to beat Kentucky in the 2008 SEC Tournament the year the Dogs went on to win just their second-ever SEC title.
Swansey was a transfer for Tennessee Tech and had to sit out Davis’s final year for the Golden Eagles. So, the question had to be asked since they went head-to-head in practice. Who was the better shooter?
After a pause...“Well, I guess I would have to give that to Zac. Best clutch shooter I ever saw,” he said. “But we had some fun playing against each other in practice. It made me a better player.”
For now, Davis said he is more than content to stay in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
“I love it here and I love the college game and I just plan to keep learning as much as I can and get better as a coach,” he said. “Coach Payne is a tremendous teacher and I have no plans to go anywhere for a while. This is a great place to be and where I want to be right now in my life. Couldn’t be happier.”
