Russ Davis completed a decade as the head coach of the Women’s Basketball program at Vanguard University with a 31-2 overall record and a 20-0 run to his fourth straight GSAC Championship last season. Davis begins his 11th season at VU with a 258-74 career record and the Lions earning the top position in the NAIA Preseason poll for the second straight season. His teams have averaged more than 25 wins and less than 10 losses per season, while becoming one of the strongest women’s basketball programs within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Ranked first in the NAIA for the entire 2005-06 season, the Lions were eliminated in the semifinals of the NAIA National Tournament. Beginning the 2006-07 season as the Co-No. 1 ranked team with defending national champion Union University, Davis and the Lions will continue the search for their first NAIA National Championship.
Davis, who earned his fourth GSAC Coach of the Year award and his first RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) National NAIA Coach of the Year award in 2005, was RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA’s choice for the West Region Coach of the Year in 2006. In all, Davis’ teams at Vanguard have won seven GSAC titles and made eight trips to the NAIA National Tournament. The Lions have made two final four appearances (2003 and 2006) at the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships, twice finishing tied for third place. Vanguard also holds the GSAC record for the most conference victories in a single season, going undefeated (20-0) in GSAC last season.
Davis came to Vanguard University with a reputation of being one of the top high school coaches in California. "I have really enjoyed coaching at Vanguard University," says Davis. "The Lord brought me here and is blessing me every day."
Coach Davis has over twenty-five years of coaching experience. He began coaching women in 1991 at Woodbridge High School after being an assistant to the men’s program at Woodbridge from 1982 to 1991. After the 1991 season, Estancia High School hired Davis, and he completely revamped the Estancia program before leaving after the 1995-96 season to be an assistant coach at Vanguard. Currently, Davis also coaches the Nike Cal Swish girls club team of Orange County during the summer and was chosen to coach at the 2005 USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Trials in Colorado.
As a high school coach, he was the CIF, State Division II and Orange County Register Coach of the Year in 1991. In 1992 the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot honored him as Coach of the Year and twice he has been selected to be the head coach of the Orange County All Star game. In 25 years as a head coach at different levels and both genders, Davis begins the 2006-07 season with an overall coaching record of 507-187.
While establishing an outstanding reputation for the VU Women’s Basketball Team throughout the NAIA ranks, Davis has also become a well-known figure among his coaching peers. Russ is a National Rater for the NAIA, serves as Second Vice President for the NAIA women’s basketball Coaches Association, and is a member of the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Tournament Committee. He is also on the Kodak Women’s Basketball All-America Committee and is a member of the Board of Directors for the WBCA. At Vanguard, Davis is a Champions of Character Instructor and Co-Director of BAM (Beyond Athletics Ministry), a ministry group made up of athletes from various sports on the VU campus.
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