Middle Tennessee State didn't get the NCAA Tournament bid many believed it deserved, and now the Blue Raiders have lost their coach, too.

Ole Miss hired Kermit Davis as its new coach Thursday, bringing home a Mississippi native who built a reputation as a giant-killer at MTSU.

Davis' Middle Tennessee teams have won at least 24 games in six of the last seven seasons, reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2013, '16 and '17 and knocking off heavily favored Big Ten foes in each of the last two appearances. The Blue Raiders went 24-7 this year but missed out on the NCAAs after an upset loss to Southern Miss in the Conference USA Tournament.

Davis, 58, spent 16 years in Murfreesboro, recording only one losing season in that span. He previously had a pair of stints as head coach at Idaho and a disastrous one-season stay at Texas A&M — then a member of the Southwest Conference — in which he went 8-21.

He'll take over an Ole Miss program that managed only two NCAA appearances (and six NIT trips) under Andy Kennedy, who resigned in February in the midst of his 12th season. While the Rebels had a winning record every year during Kennedy's tenure except this season, they haven't been able to establish themselves as a consistent contender in March.

Davis is a Leakesville, Miss., native who played at Mississippi State, graduating in 1982.