MARS HILL, N.C. — Larry Davis is now a head basketball coach in the college ranks.
The former Gamecock guard who had a successful run in the Palmetto State as a high school coach has been named the new head basketball coach at Mars Hill University.
Davis has spent the last four years at York Preparatory Academy in Rock Hill where he led that program to the Class 2A state finals back in March. For the last two years, he also served as the school’s athletics director.
Prior to take over at York Prep, Davis served as the Director of Operations for Men’s Basketball at James Madison University during the 2016-17 season. He was responsible for all travel plans and the logistical operations of the travelling party, ordered, distributed, and collected all equipment, as well as coordinated fundraising events and activities. He coordinated all aspects of prospective athletes’ official visits, recruiting weekends, coaches’ recruiting travel, and overall recruiting coordination while also being responsible for the creation and management of the men’s basketball operations budget.
Davis has also been a head coach at Lewisville where he won a state championship and was named the South Carolina Class A Coach of the Year. He would then take over as the head coach at Northwestern High School in 2013.
In the 2015-16 season, Davis spent a year in the South Atlantic Conference as an assistant coach at Newberry College which marked his first coaching job at the collegiate level.
The Denmark-Olar product began his coaching career in 2003 at Highland School of Technology in Gastonia, North Carolina and served as the Assistant Boys Varsity Coach up until 2009.
In high school, he was named South Carolina’s “Mr. Basketball” and was the state’s Player of the Year in 1991. He won Denmark-Olar High School’s State and National Scoring titles during the 1990-91 season, averaging 44.7 points per game and was a McDonald’s All-American Nominee as well as the first state of South Carolina Dean Smith signee in 1991.
In 1993, he was a member of the North Carolina Championship Team before transferring to the University of South Carolina and was the team’s leading scorer during the 1995-96 season. In 1997, the Gamecocks won the SEC Championship and were ranked No. 4 in the country, earning an NCAA Tournament bid. At the end of the season, Davis was named an AP First Team All-SEC selection as well as an AP Second-Team All-American, Basketball Times Third-Team All-American.