Courtesy of GMC
BEN DAVIS
POULTNEY—Green Mountain College Interim Director of Athletics James Thivierge announced Tuesday, June 14, that Ben Davis has been hired to lead the men’s basketball team, becoming the ninth head coach in program history. Davis begins his career with the Eagles after spending the past three seasons as the head coach at Dakota County Technical College.
“Ben Davis emerged as the ideal choice from an excellent pool of candidates,” said Thivierge. “We are very fortunate to be able to bring such a uniquely qualified and experienced head coach such as Ben to our community and are confident that he and the program will enjoy great success going forward.”
Davis arrives at Green Mountain after serving as the head coach and athletic director at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) in Minnesota. In his first stint as a head coach, he inherited a program that posted a 7-21 record in 2013-14 and then quickly transformed it into one that played to a 23-8 record the very next season. This past season, his team finished with a 20-12 record and qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Tournament for the first time in school history. For his success, he received his region’s Coach of the Year honors. In his three years at DCTC, Davis produced five First Team All-Region players and four Academic All-Americans.
Before DCTC, Davis was the full-time assistant coach and head of recruiting at Clarke University in Iowa for two years, where he helped direct the team to a 32-27 record, including a 19-win season in 2011-12, which was third best in school history.
Prior to Clarke, Davis spent two years at Carleton College in Minnesota as an assistant coach, helping the team to a 39-16 overall record. Carleton made the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament both years. His team won the conference championship in 2009-10, making a trip to the NCAA Tournament and losing by one point in the first round to eventual champions University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Carleton led the league in fewest points allowed during each of Davis’ two years at Carleton and ranked second in the country among Division III institutes for lowest fouls committed during the 2010-2011 season.
Davis was an assistant at Macalester College in Minnesota before his stint at Carleton. At Macalester, he headed the recruiting efforts while being responsible for the skill development of the team’s post players and coaching them during practices and games.
From 2006 to now, Davis has also been the founder, director and coach for his Minnesota Fury AAU team. His success at that level is also noteworthy, having gone 432-183 and beating teams having players ranked in the top 10 by national scouting services. Davis has had more than 60 players move on to play at the collegiate level, 27 of them receiving athletic scholarships.
Davis received his bachelor of science degree in child psychology with a minor in coaching education from the University in Minnesota in 2007. He received his master’s degree in coaching education from the University of Ohio in 2010.
Davis is excited to begin immediately and hopes he and his wife will be able to quickly transition to their new home in the Green Mountain State. “My wife and I are very excited and thankful for the opportunity to be part of the Green Mountain College community,” said Davis. “I want to help our student-athletes be successful on the court, in the classroom, and in life. My goal is to build a championship level program with high-character student-athletes that will make a positive impact on the community and college. It became clear throughout the application process that Green Mountain College is a great fit for me both as a coach and as a person. I want to thank James Thivierge and the search committee for putting their trust in me as the leader of the men’s basketball program.”
