Less than two months after becoming the coach, Davis drew attention by saying after a loss to Kentucky that he “wasn’t the right man for job.” The next season, some fans were upset that Davis said he wanted to coach in the NBA one day. On Monday, he said he believed that IU fans needed a former Indiana player to coach the team so they could embrace him.

Stephen Backer, who was on Indiana’s Board of Trustees when Davis was hired, said high expectations might have doomed Davis, who spent three years as an assistant to Knight. In 29 seasons under Knight, Indiana won three NCAA championships.

“It was almost a no-win situation for him — unless he won three straight national titles,” Backer said. “Poor Mike was thrown into his first head coaching job, and we put him in a very tough position.”

And it only got tougher when the Hoosiers went 29-29 and with no NCAA tournament bids the last two seasons.

Some fans were already pushing Thursday for Iowa coach Steve Alford’s return to Bloomington.

Alford, an Indiana high school star and former All-American who led the Hoosiers to their last national title in 1987, declined Thursday to discuss Indiana’s situation.

Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association and a former assistant football coach with the Hoosiers, suggested some Indiana supporters never accepted the school’s first black head coach.

“I coached in southern Indiana for nine years and I understand the culture of southern Indiana,” Keith said. “I know there’s always going to be a pocket of folks who don’t quite think like other folks do. ... I wouldn’t be honest if I said there wasn’t a little bit of that that exists. It did, and Mike had to deal with it.”

Davis urged fans to unite behind the players and program.

The question now is which players. Sophomore swingman Robert Vaden, an Indianapolis native, said he would likely transfer. Sophomore forward D.J. White, last year’s Big Ten freshman of the year, was more direct.

“I came all the way from Alabama to play for coach Davis. With him not here, I feel like it will be tough to play,” he said. “I don’t think I’m coming back next year.”

NCAA president Myles Brand, who was IU’s president when Davis took over for Knight, declined comment through a spokesman. Knight, now the coach at Texas Tech, also declined comment through a spokesman.

Greenspan said he would begin the search for a replacement immediately but was unlikely to name a coach until after the NCAA tournament ends April 3.

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