PROVIDENCE - As the NCAA Division 1 Coach of the Year in 2007-08, he directed Drake to the Promised Land. Now, Keno Davis hopes to guide Providence College in the NCAA Tournament as well.

"I don't know if I'm the answer, but, hopefully, I'm part of it," said the new Friars' basketball boss. "This is big time. My love of the Big East, big time college basketball - I want to bring that excitement."

The 36-year-old Davis has roots in New England. His dad, Dr. Tom Davis, coached at Boston College in the 1970s and he served as an assistant coach from 1995-97 at Southern Indiana under Bruce Pearl of Sharon, the current head coach at Tennessee.

Those basketball roots in New England were planted on the backboards of BC's then home, the Roberts Center, and the family's home up the hill in Newton. "It was an incredible experience, those memories. I was about six or seven when we got here, about 11 when we left.

"I remember the Blizzard of '78 and me and my dad walking down Commonwealth Avenue to practice. I took a lot of shots in that gym. I was too young for him (then BC star John Bagley) to be picking on me." Davis was named Drake's 24th head coach in March of 2007, succeeding his dad who retired that same year. Davis came on board at Drake in 2003 under his dad as the Bulldogs' "first assistant."

"He's hot," said PC season ticket-holder and former North Attleboro High hoopster Mike Cavallaro of the selection. "I like the move. How can you go wrong with the national coach of the year?"

Former Dighton-Rehoboth High hoop great John Egan, a member of the Nelligan Sports Marketing group who handles the PC account, believes that Davis is a good fit as well. "If he can win at Drake, under those conditions, he'll be phenomenal at Providence."

In his first season at Drake, the Bulldogs were picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference's preseason poll. All Davis did was direct Drake to their first MVC championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1971, fashioning 28 wins (and just five losses), including a 21-game winning streak along the way.

"He is an answer to prayer," confessed PC President Fr. Brian Shanley. "I wanted a coach, someone who can inspire. I want a coach to build character. For me, as a priest, there's been a question of discernment - what's the right fit for Providence College? God has delivered in bringing Coach Davis to Providence."

The Drake Bulldogs started the season at 16-1, cracking the Top 25 rankings for the first time since the 1974-75 season. The Bulldogs were ranked as high at No. 14 in February and finished the season at No. 15, following a dramatic 101-99 loss in overtime to Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Drake was the No. 5 seed heading into the postseason and combined with Western Kentucky for 30 three-point field goals in the first round NCAA Tournament shootout.

Even more amazing is the fact that Davis inherited a 17-15 team from his father, a team that lost four seniors to graduation and a 2007-08 team that featured two former "walk-ons."

"I think that he'll bring out the best in us," said Friar junior forward Geoff McDermott, who met briefly with the successor to Tim Welsh. "I had faith all along that we'd get the best coach available."

Friar junior guard Jeff Xavier will now have played for three coaches during his collegiate career - Bobby Gonzalez (the current Seton Hall coach) at Manhattan, Welsh (in his first season as an eligible transfer) and now Davis. "Every day I'd wake up and wonder who'd be our coach," said Xavier of the selection process, which resulted in Davidson's Bob McKillop, George Mason's Jim Larranaga and UMass' Travis Ford declining the invitation to coach at PC. "The one thing that I heard about him is that he has his players believe, his teams play hard." The Friars won just one Big East Tournament game during Welsh's 10-year regime and made just two NCAA Tournament appearances. "Buy your tickets now," surmised PC Athletic Director Bob Driscoll of what he hopes is positive hoop-la about Friar hoops. "We had a clear set of criteria, one of which was the belief that we can compete successfully in the Big East, that we can get the job done."

That includes recruiting, what with the Friars having five seniors on the roster next year. "There's no problem in finding talent," said Davis, who recruited all but one player at Drake. "You're trying to find out what the character of that talent is and find out who's the best fit here. We have to figure our the best way to succeed."

In the back of Davis' mind, he always wondered about what coaching basketball back home, back in the East, back New England would be like. "Coming back East, close to my roots, I wondered if I'd get an opportunity to go back that way," he continued.

In Davis' own research of the Friar basketball program, "I didn't hear a negative thing. They (PC) not only know who and where they are, they have an identity. It's a blessing to be here in Providence - I want to get this thing going."