Assistant coach Mike Davis awaits decision

Athletics director Clarence Doninger said he feels some pressure to name an interim head coach for the men's basketball team. He met with assistant coach Mike Davis last night to discuss the issue.\nDavis said Monday afternoon he wants the job. All Doninger has to do is ask. \nDoninger said an interim head coach could be named as early as today, because he wants the decision made "as soon as possible."\n"As time goes, emotion grows," said Davis, as he watched the news of Dane Fife's transfer scroll across the bottom of a TV. "You try to make decisions with a clear head, but it's difficult when you feel like this. I'm sad and I'm a little scared because I don't know what's going on. I've got bills to pay."\nOne person in Assembly Hall who is sure of what comes next is assistant coach Pat Knight. He's leaving and will follow his father to a new coaching job.\n"I'm out of here," Pat Knight said. "I wouldn't stay in this place after the way they treated my father. There's no way. I'm going to be coaching with my father somewhere else. \n"He's got a good five or six years left in him to coach. A hall of fame coach that's available is a pretty hot commodity in my book. It doesn't end here, it will just be a new good beginning for him."\nDavis said the past three years have been a dream come true for him because he's been able to learn from Bob Knight. But if the players leave, Davis said it is likely he will look for a job as a head coach somewhere else.\n"It was a great honor for me to work for Coach Knight because you learn basketball from the best," Davis said. "I've learned a lot. That's why I came here, to be a head coach.\nDoninger said he and Vice President for Administration Terry Clapacs met with Davis and assistant coach John Treloar Sunday evening and told them they would like the coaches to remain on staff, not necessarily as interim coach. Doninger said he realizes the players are looking for more. Clapacs said six players spoke with him and Doninger at about 3:30 p.m. Monday.\n"The players have definitely indicated they want some continuity or they're going to explore other possibilities. That is correct," Doninger said. "I wouldn't say it's an ultimatum; the players have expressed a strong desire to have some continuity in the program, in particular they would like the same system, they would like John Treloar and Mike Davis to be involved because that's what they were expecting for this year, and this has been a jolt to their system."\nWhile Doninger and Clapacs work, the families of those involved wait. Les Fertig, who was recently hired as an administrative assistant, said he left his job as an assistant coach at Ohio State to work with Bob Knight. Now he doesn't know where he stands.\n"Now I'm kind of in limbo, and it's very disruptive to my family," Fertig said. "We just don't know what the next step is. It's very disruptive. Nobody seems to have an understanding of what comes next."\nDavis said the upheaval has been difficult for his wife and two kids. The couple just bought a house in Indianapolis, and they're worried about two mortgages. \nTamilya is concerned about having to move again and is trying to keep life normal for their two sons, Antwaan, 2, and Michael, 13.\n"It's hard not knowing. That's the hardest part," Tamilya said. "And being so late in the year, wondering if he has a chance to get a job, if that's even a possibility ... That's why he's in this, that's the ultimate goal. He doesn't want to be an assistant all his life -- nobody does."\nTreloar was unavailable for comment.