Farewell to a friend

I guess the title of this blog is something of a stretch, because it's not as though the man is packing up everything and moving to Alaska.

But Jim Davis is an institution around these parts. So when he decides to leave these parts, it marks a bit of an end to an era.

A friend told me last night he heard Davis had taken a coaching job somewhere. It was a bit late for a call, so I shot him a text asking if it was true.

He responded shortly thereafter:

"Well ... I am gone! Bobbie and I pulled our RV to Young Harris, Ga., and I started coaching. I am an assistant to Brenda Paul, who was head coach at Mississippi State, Elon, and Georgia State. I'm teaching/coaching and having a ball. All of us want to be wanted. Clemson will always be a part of us and I cherish our friendship."

It's hard not to be happy for anyone who finds happiness in any aspect of life. So certainly you feel good for Davis and his return to coaching at the small private school in the North Georgia mountains.

But I must admit my first reaction upon hearing the news was a bit selfish, and I'd imagine a lot of other folks experienced the same reflex. There's a sense of loss, because a Clemson community without Coach Davis is a lesser community.

I was lucky enough to get to know Davis a few years ago when we shared a car and a cart for a golf outing in Grandfather Mountain, N.C. You can learn a lot about someone's personality through a four-hour round of golf, and I consider myself lucky to have learned a lot about a lot of things while playing many a round with Coach Davis.

The man is great at one-liners, and I must confess to stealing one of his that comes in perfect handy after someone slices a drive:

"That right there's a Bo Derek ... nice little tail on it."

The firing of Coach Davis as women's basketball coach was an unfortunate period in Clemson athletics, and I think I can detach myself enough to state that objectively.

No question the program had slid under his leadership. No question recruiting needed to be improved. But a strong case could be made that Davis had earned the benefit of the doubt enough to get a bit more time -- or at least to part on better terms than he did.

If you're going to fire an icon, it's imperative that you put everything you possibly can into replacing that icon with someone who is successful. The process that produced Christy McKinney as Davis' replacement was flawed, and the choice itself ended up being a failure. The failure was magnified because it entrenched the alienation of fans who still felt an attachment to Davis.

The way Davis handled his tremendously difficult departure -- and the way he still handles it to this day -- is the epitome of class. Davis isn't afraid to tell you what he thinks, and I have yet to hear him grouse -- even privately -- about the man who fired him.

Late last year, when university president James Barker began interviewing athletics department personnel about Phillips' job performance, Davis seemed uncomfortable about the process. He wasn't sure it was the best or fairest way to evaluate an athletics director. He stuck up for the man who fired him, and if that's not an impressive show of a man's character I'm not sure what is.

The sensible thing for most coaches to do upon getting fired is to leave town -- particularly a town as small as Clemson. Sticking around just creates too many uncomfortable situations, and you don't want to foster the impression that you're lurking around and judging your successor.

Coach Davis has never told me this, but it's probably safe to assume he remained at this place because this place was a part of him. He still attended women's basketball games, not to pick apart schemes or late-game decisions but because he still loved the program he led for so long. He still took his RV to all the home football games, and some road games, because that's who he was.

He still showed up to most of the Tuesday football press conferences during the fall, sitting with the small cluster of old Clemson codgers who wish not only to see what the head coach has to say, but to show their support regardless of whether the coach's seat is running hot or cold.

I'm sure Coach Davis will be back in Clemson plenty, because that's who he is.

But we won't see his smiling face as much around these parts, and that's why his departure is tinged with a bit of selfish sadness even though we're happy for the man.

LW