Dan Davis is in the midst of a culture change in the Grace College women’s basketball program, both in basketball and his own migration north. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WINONA LAKE – The ideals of southern charm and the hardworking Midwesterner could not be any more evident than what the duo of Dan Davis and Carol McGregor have brought to the Grace women’s basketball program and the campus as a whole.

Spend five minutes with these two (and you’ll be hard pressed to make it just five minutes) and it’s entirely evident why the culture is shifting within the basketball program. Davis has been a ball of energy since he and his family arrived in the summer after taking over the basketball program from the departed Scott Blum. Coming from the University of Auburn-Montgomery, culture change for Davis, who was born and raised in Georgia, was going to happen one way or another. Embracing the Hoosier State has been a welcomed adjustment, not just in a basketball-crazed landscape.

Noted Davis, whose four kids experienced their first full taste of a northern winter this past weekend, “Shoot. I was riding shotgun in the bus going down to Marian and was like, ‘wow’. My kids are loving it. They’ve never been in snow before.”

McGregor, the lone assistant in the Grace program, added, “One conversation I had with Dan when we started out was winters here are different,” McGregor said. “Indiana kids can shoot. There’s snow outside, what else are they going to do? They are going into their gym, going into their barn, somewhere warm, and shooting. That’s their activity. We find the heat in the winter. All but two schools in the Crossroads League are Indiana schools with Indiana kids. We’re all recruiting the same kids and the same areas, and it’s the same Midwest kid.

“It’s really finding our niche. How do we separate the same Indiana kids from going to St. Francis or Bethel or Grace. What sets us apart. That’s where we have to set that level of what we want to do at Grace and make it marketable for a high school player to choose us.”

Carol McGregor has brought Division 1 experience to Grace’s sidelines.

Davis spent the past 10 years at UA-M, where he recruited and coached five All-American players, most notably the 2015-16 NAIA National Player of the Year Jatoria Carter. Davis was also named a conference Coach of the Year, led two teams to the NAIA National tournament and won over 40 games his past two seasons with the Warhawks.

McGregor, on the other hand, is Hoosier born and bred. Growing up in the NorthWood school system, teenager Carol Duncan became a three-sport star for the Panthers, most notably in basketball where she was part of NorthWood’s 1999 state championship as a freshman. Her continued assent took her to Purdue University, where she played four years with the Boilermakers. From there, Duncan moved into coaching, making stops at Northwestern and Murray State, and most recently at St. Francis in Fort Wayne. Duncan’s résumé, and her continued tenacity that shaped her playing image, has resonated with the Lady Lancers.

“One thing I think we have to acknowledge, is the seniors said it doesn’t matter who is hired, we have to take this upon ourselves to be there and ready for this team,” McGregor said. “They came to the first meetings and took on how we were building this together and sprinkled and spread it to the rest of the team. They completely opened their mind and their heart about how to identify themselves as women of Christ and as basketball players. They started that conversation and made it easy on us in transition.”

As a duo, Davis and McGregor have brought both a fire – both are ultra competitive and former players themselves – and an ice – a learned cool with several years of coaching at multiple levels – to the Lady Lancers. Through 20 games this season, Grace was as level as could be, going 10-10 overall and 4-4 in the Crossroads League. Grace’s loss to Indiana Wesleyan Wednesday dropped them below .500 in each column.

“I love the energy that coach Davis and coach McGregor bring to the program,” stated Grace College athletic director Chad Briscoe. “They both are very intentional about impacting lives for the Lord through basketball, and they pursue Christian excellence in everything that is done within the program.”

Senior Brooke Sugg is one of the three seniors that hit the preseason meetings head on. Her size (5-1) and her almost continuous smile doesn’t translate to a traditional physical leader. But the trust the coaching staff has put into her is being reciprocated.

“We always joke with coach Davis because he doesn’t believe how cold it gets in Indiana,” Sugg said. “The first day it snowed, he came out and threw snowballs at us after practice. He’s fun. But, really, basketball is basketball. The goal is to put the ball in the hoop and outscore your opponent, and coach Davis and coach Mac (McGregor) have confidence in us. He chose us, he knew who we were before he came here. That’s reassuring for us. Just trusting his knowledge in the game of basketball, and that we can get to where we want to go.”

Davis said continuing to push forward, where for one day or one year, or for potential high school players who are considering Grace, that’s always on the front of his mind.

“You have to be aggressive and intentional about your culture in the program,” Davis said. “You have to invest in it everyday. I told the girls on day one, the first thing we have to do is fight for our culture. We want them fighting for each other. The retreats, team dinners at the house, the devotions. It’s been really fun. The first couple of them, everyone was looking around. Now it’s relaxed and it’s really paid dividends. We are going to be more active in the community. My first year here, it’s been a lot, but I want this program to be connected in the community.”