Ken Davis
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- Title:
- Head Coach
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- Phone:
- 847-735-6130
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- Email:
- davis@lakeforest.edu
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The 2021-22 season will be the eighth as Lake Forest College's head coach for Ken Davis, who has taken the program to unprecedented heights.
Under the direction of Davis, the 2019-20 Foresters posted an overall record of 13-13 and went 10-8 in Midwest Conference Play to qualify for the four-team MWC Tournament. Sean Espinosa, who surpassed 1,000 career points and became the program's career leader in assists as a junior, was named First Team All-MWC for the second straight season. Lake Forest made at least 250 three-pointers for the second year in a row and Sam Husting finished his three years at the College ranked fourth in program history in that category as an individual with 198.
Davis led the Foresters to the first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in program history in 2019 and the team has qualified for the last five MWC Tournaments, which is easily the longest such streak in program history. The Foresters' 84 victories from 2014-20 are the most of any six-year span and they are 65-43 in Midwest Conference play during his tenure. At least one player on the team has been named All-MWC in each of Davis' six full seasons as head coach and 17 have been listed among the best in the league during his 14 years on staff. Among them are Travis Clark's MWC Player of the Year and All-American performance in 2011-12.
The Foresters have excelled statistically in numerous categories during the last seven years. In 2019-20 they ranked 18th out of more than 400 NCAA Division III teams in field goal percentage (.488) and and the team has also finished among the national leaders in scoring, three-point field goal percentage, rebound margin, offensive rebounding, fewest turnovers, and fewest fouls. Lake Forest has connected on at least 150 three-pointers in each of the last six full seasons and and averaged nearly 250 from 2017-20. Several single-game performances during Davis' tenure as head coach also rank among the best in program history, including the Foresters' school record 20 three-pointers made in December of 2018 and the 11 knocked down by two different individuals in the last six years.
Lake Forest has also been successful in the classroom since Davis took over as head coach, earning a program record seven Academic All-MWC honors in 2015 and again in 2017 and 29 in his first six years combined. Forester players have also been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court 20 times during his tenure and Lake Forest has received the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award three of the last five seasons.
Prior to taking over as head coach in 2014-15, Davis served as assistant coach for the Foresters for the previous seven years. Davis came to Lake Forest after six years as the head varsity coach at Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois. Under his direction, Leyden claimed a New Trier High School Thanksgiving Tournament Championship (2004), was an IHSA regional finalist (2005), finished third at the Grant Holiday Tournament (2006), and was were ranked as high as #1 in the area by the Daily Herald.
Davis started his high school coaching career at Deerfield High School working with Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame coach Steve Pappas. He helped lead Deerfield to the Wheeling Hardwood Holiday Tournament Championship in 1994 and to an IHSA Class AA Regional title in 1995.
After graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and minor in political science, Davis worked at the Chicago Board of Trade as a financial futures trader. He also received his master of arts degree in teaching from National-Louis University and began an 18-year career in education.
Davis lives in Deerfield with his wife Darlene and is the proud father of daughter Brooke and sons Ryan and Seth.
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