Mississippi has hired Middle Tennessee's Kermit Davis as its men's basketball coach.

The school made the announcement Thursday and said it would introduce Davis on campus Monday.

The 58-year-old Davis has coached at Middle Tennessee since 2002 and led the program to the NCAA Tournament in 2013, 2016 and 2017. The Leakesville, Mississippi, native also led the Blue Raiders to league titles in seven of the last nine seasons during time in Conference USA and the Sun Belt.

Davis will continue to coach Middle Tennessee this month during the NIT. The Blue Raiders travel to face Louisville on Sunday.

"I'm incredibly honored and excited to be the basketball coach at the University of Mississippi," Davis said in a statement. "We are extremely grateful to Chancellor Vitter and (athletic director Ross Bjork) for giving me the opportunity to lead such a prestigious program in the best basketball league in America."

Davis will take over an Ole Miss program that finished with a 12-20 record this season, including a 5-13 mark in the Southeastern Conference.

He replaces Andy Kennedy, who resigned in February after nearly 12 years leading the Rebels.

Ole Miss was often competitive under Kennedy but made the NCAA Tournament just twice in 12 seasons.

That level of success was acceptable when the Rebels played games at Tad Smith Coliseum, which was considered one of the SEC's worst facilities. But Ole Miss built a $100 million arena a few years ago called The Pavilion and expectations soared.

Instead of improving, Ole Miss regressed, and now Davis will get a chance to try to push the Rebels toward the top of the SEC.

"After assessing the entire landscape of college basketball and speaking to basketball experts across the country to determine the greatest fit for Ole Miss Basketball, the answer was clear — Kermit Davis is the best coach and best leader to take our program to the next level in the SEC and NCAA," Bjork said.

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