LIVE from Providence, Rhode Island... IT'S KENO DAVIS!!!!!

It's kinda old news around campus, but I thought I'd let you blog readers know that Keno Davis, Drake's men's basketball coach this year, high-tailed it to Rhode Island. Under his leadership/direction, as you know, the Bulldogs had an outstanding year.

As such, naturally, his departure pretty much devastated fans. And Drake students got the ultimate revenge - they made Facebook bumper stickers that had Keno's picture with "SELLOUT" stamped across it. There are others that use different words, but I won't repeat those here.

According to the article in the campus paper, The Times Delphic, the players understand and are going to miss their coach, but are looking to maintain the "winning legacy" of the basketball program.

I can see both sides of this story. Keno was offered a 7-year contract with Providence College at $1 million a year. That's A LOT of money. Tempting. Then again, there's something to be said for loyalty. But, to play devil's advocate with myself, rumor has it that Keno has a lot of family on the east coast - so maybe a move out there has been on the horizon for some time and he couldn't pass up this offer.

Can I blame him? No. Would I have done the same thing? I can't say. Having family out there would have been a strong selling point for me, though. Does it suck? Yes.

Here's the story from the TD: http://media.www.timesdelphic.com/media/storage/paper1086/news/2008/04/22/News/Keno-Takes.Money.Runs.To.Friars-3338574.shtml

Here's info about Mark Phelps, the new guy: http://media.www.timesdelphic.com/media/storage/paper1086/news/2008/05/01/Sports/Mark-Phelps.To.Take.Over.As.New.Mens.Basketball.Head.Coach-3358978.shtml