Emmett Davis begins his 10th season as a member of the Navy coaching staff under Ed DeChellis at Navy and his 22nd season at Navy overall in the fall of 2024.
Davis brings a wealth of experience as a successful Division I assistant and head coach to the program. At Navy he plays a key role in both recruiting and player development, works with the post players and assists head coach Ed DeChellis with implementing the defensive game plan which blends man-to-man with 2-3 zone. He also serves as the admissions liaison for the program and assists with opponent scouting, game day preparation and Navy basketball alumni relations.
This will be the 30th season Davis will be part of a coaching staff for a team competing in the Patriot League, which is the most for any basketball coach in league history. The league as a whole is entering its 35th season of basketball.
In his Division I coaching career, Davis has been part of coaching staffs that have led teams to at least a share of four league regular season titles (1987, ‘94, ‘97, ‘98), the No. 1 seed in four league tournaments (1987, ‘94, ‘97, 2021), an appearance in the championship game of seven league tournaments (1987, ‘94, ‘95, ‘97, ‘98, 2008, ‘22) and four NCAA Tournaments (1987, ‘94, ‘97, ‘98).
In his last 13 seasons in Annapolis, Navy has posted an overall record of 239-176, a league record of 135-77, earned at least a share of three Patriot League regular season titles and garnered the No. 1 seed in three league tournaments.
Navy has posted a 125-104 overall record and an 81-52 league regular season record during his second stint on The Yard.
Davis is credited with recruiting several accomplished Navy basketball players during his tenure as an assistant coach. This includes five of the current top-30 scorers in school history, such as top-10 scorers Mike Heary (sixth) and Chris Williams (ninth).
At Navy (2015-16 to present)
Davis returned to Navy as an assistant coach prior to the start of the 2015-16 season. The Mids compiled a 19-14 record that season and finished Patriot League play with a 9-9 record to tie for fourth place. Navy improved upon its league win total the next season (2016-17) as it totaled a 10-8 record, placed solo fourth and advanced to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2001.
Navy took another step forward in the 2017-18 season as the Mids won 20 games (20-12) for the first time in 18 years and set a school record for wins during a Patriot League season with an 11-7 record. The Mids would tie for third place in the league that year, the best for the program since a third-place showing during the 2008-09 season.
In 2018-19, Navy faced the toughest strength of schedule in the league and finished with a 12-19 overall record. Picked eighth at the start of the season, the Mids ended the year in a tie for fifth place in the final standings with their 8-10 record and reached the semifinal round of the league tournament for the second time in three seasons.
Navy was one of the youngest teams in the country in 2019-20 and predicted to finish in ninth place in the Patriot League at the start of the year. The Mids ended the season tied for sixth place with an 8-10 record against league foes.
Navy put together a 15-3 record during the 2020-21 season. Included among the wins was the program’s first over Georgetown since the 1976-77 season. The Mids posted a 12-1 record against league foes to earn the No. 1 seed in the league tournament for the first time since 1997.
The Mids compiled a 21-11 record in 2021-22, which included a win at No. 25 Virginia. Navy then placed second in league play with a 12-6 mark and advanced to the title game of the league tournament for the first time in 21 seasons.
The 2022-23 season saw the Mids earn the No. 2 seed in the league tournament with a mark of 11-7 that was part of an overall 18-13 campaign.
At St. Lawrence (1980-81 to 1983-84)
Davis attended St. Lawrence (Canton, N.Y.) where he played his first two seasons under future Navy head coach Paul Evans. He spent his senior season (1980-81) as an assistant coach with the Saints before graduating with a degree in government. Davis joined the coaching staff after graduation and spent three seasons as a full-time assistant coach, during which time he also attained a master’s in education (1984) from the school.
St. Lawrence won the Independent College Athletic Conference and went to the NCAA (DIII) Tournament in each of his two years as a player. The Saints posted a 20-6 record and made the NCAA Tournament during his final season as a full-time assistant coach.
At Navy (1986-87 to 1997-98)
After two years working in the corporate world, Davis joined Navy as an assistant coach for the 1986-87 season. The Mids tallied a 26-6 record in all and won the Colonial Athletic Association during his first season on The Yard, which also was the senior season for future Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member David Robinson. Navy would reach the NCAA Tournament’s first round that year.
Davis remained on the Navy staff when Don DeVoe became head coach for the 1992-93 season. The Mids were entering their second season as a member of the Patriot League that year. The next year, 1993-94, Navy shared the regular season title and won the league tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. That would be the first of five-straight winning league seasons for the Mids (48-16 record in all), a span that included at least a share of three more regular season titles (1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98) and three trips total to the NCAA Tournament (1996-97, 1997-98). Those five years featured an overall record of 91-54 for the Mids.
At Colgate (1998-99 to 2010-11)
Davis left Navy after the 1998 NCAA Tournament to become the head coach at Colgate. He would spend 13 years at the school, become the second-fastest coach in school history to reach 100 wins and set a Colgate record for the most career wins with 165.
The Raiders finished in the top half of the Patriot League in seven of his 13 seasons, which included a tie for second place in the 2002-03 campaign. Colgate reached the semifinal round of the league tournament four times and advanced to the championship game of the 2008 Patriot League Tournament under Davis. The Raiders tied a school record with 18 overall wins that season.
Individually, players under Davis totaled four first-team all-league awards, eight second-team accolades, 12 all-rookie team laurels and twice were named the league rookie of the year.
A number of Colgate players and assistant coaches under Davis have gone on to coaching careers of their own. This includes head coaches Jeremy Ballard (player, assistant) at Florida International, Jon Coffman (assistant) at Purdue University Fort Wayne, Nathan Davis (assistant) at New Hampshire, Kevin Curley (assistant) at McDaniel, Kelvin Jefferson (assistant) at Gannon and Mark Linebaugh (player) at Lycoming.
Additional former Davis assistants or players on staffs are Rod Balanis (assistant), associate head coach at Howard; Brian Regan (assistant), director of operations at Pitt; Pat Moore (player), assistant at Colgate and J.P. Clark (assistant), assistant for the Delaware Blue Coats in the NBA G League.
Also, Howard Blue (player) is the head coach at Georgetown Prep and Dennis Csensits (assistant) is the head coach at Allentown Central Catholic.
At Tulsa (2011-12)
Davis joined the staff of one of his former players at Navy, Doug Wojcik, at Tulsa for the 2011-12 season. The Hurricanes posted a 10-6 record in Conference USA that season as part of an overall record of 17-14. Davis coached current NBA player Jordan Clarkson (Utah) during his season at Tulsa.
Personal
After leaving Tulsa, Davis and his family returned to Annapolis where he spent one season as a college basketball television analyst for the American Sports Network and Campus Insiders. He also worked for XOS Digital, a sports technology firm, as their Mid-Atlantic Regional Accounts Manager, and served as a volunteer coach for his sons at Broadneck High School and with their AAU club team, Maryland 3D.
His wife, Gail, played basketball at La Salle where she earned four letters and served as the team captain as a senior. She was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Navy and Georgetown, and resigned during the 2019 summer after six successful seasons as the head coach for the girls basketball team at Broadneck where remains an English teacher and is in charge the of the school’s AVID elective program. She was recently inducted into the West Shore Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Their children are Emmett, 2021 graduate of Navy who played football and is attending flight school; Shane, a 2022 graduate of Lafayette who played football at the school; and Brendan, a 2024 graduate of Salisbury who played basketball.
