Ex-Cincinnati assistant basketball coach Larry Davis was ousted over airplane assault case

Larry A. Davis, the former Cincinnati associate head basketball coach, was forced out of his job this September because he was accused of an assault on an airplane in 2017.

Cincinnati had previously called Davis' departure a retirement.But in a statement Tuesday, athletic director Mike Bohn said that UC had "commenced the process for separation" before the resignation.

"We learned of allegations against former employee Larry Davis regarding an off-campus incident in September 2017 which did not involve any member of the campus community," the statement begins.

"We immediately took proactive measures and suspended him from his duties while we took additional steps to ascertain more information. We could not substantiate the allegations at that time," Bohn said in the statement. Davis was suspended with pay from Sept. 15 to Sept. 27 last year, an Enquirer review of Davis' personnel files shows.

"We recently learned that the allegations may have additional support. … As Mr. Davis is no longer employed by the University, we have no further comment.” A UC spokesman also declined comment.

Davis, 62, faces a plea hearing Thursday on a federal misdemeanor assault charge at the federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's accused of assaulting another passenger on a plane from Milwaukee to Charlotte.

Neither Davis nor his North Carolina lawyer, Dhamian Blue, nor another lawyer, C. James Zeszutek, could be reached for comment.

Davis' resignation came less than two hours before it went into effect, the personnel file shows. 

Federal prosecutors accuse Davis of assaulting a victim identified in court documents only as "T.C." The assault happened on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Charlotte on or about Sept. 12, 2017. Crimes committed aboard commercial aircraft are prosecuted in federal court.

Davis, who spent more than 30 years in college coaching, was an original member of head coach Mick Cronin's staff dating back to 2006. His two-sentence resignation letter to Bohn was sent at 10:51 p.m., 69 minutes before it went into effect.

Enquirer archives contributed to this report.

 

 

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