Red Oak promotes UNT Hall of Famer Davis to lead Hawk basketball program

By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports

The Red Oak boys’ basketball program has a new, well-decorated head coach.

Chris Davis was officially named the Hawks’ new head coach Tuesday morning. He replaces Jason Sasser, who departed the program in August to pursue other career opportunities. Both head coaches came to Red Oak with quite the collegiate and professional basketball resumes.

ROISD hired Sasser during the summer of 2016. Sasser, a former hoops star at Dallas Kimball and Texas Tech, led the Hawks to an 88-59 record over five seasons, including a 38-28 mark in district play, two district championships and three 5A playoff berths.

The Hawks reached the third round of the 5A playoffs during a 29-7 campaign in 2019. Red Oak was state-ranked much of that season, as well as the following year.

The Hawks finished the 2020 season 23-12 overall and 12-0 in district play to claim their lone uncontested district championship under Sasser, as 2019 was shared with Midlothian.

Sasser’s Red Oak tenure

• 2016-17: 7-22, 1-13 – missed playoffs

• 2017-18: 19-3, 6-8 – missed playoffs

• 2018-19: 29-7, 11-1 – district co-champions, regional quarterfinalists

• 2019-20: 23-12, 12-0 – district champions, area finalists

• 2020-21: 10-15, 8-6 – bi-district finalists

Sasser had a cup of coffee with the Dallas Mavericks, appearing in two games and rostering on their developmental league affiliate.

As for Davis, he joined the Red Oak basketball program in 2018 as the Lady Hawks’ varsity assistant under head coach Darren Eubanks. Davis helped the Lady Hawks reached three consecutive 5A regional appearances and district championships in 2019, ’20 and ’21.

Davis played for 10 professional seasons in France following a sensational tenure at the University of North Texas.

Davis, a guard, finished his time with the Mean Green as the program’s second all-time leading scorer (2,254 points).

According to a Red Oak ISD press release, Davis was a three-time all-conference selection. He was also named the 2000 Big West Freshman of the Year after averaging 21.7 points per game — capping his season as the nations’ second-leading freshman and 14th leading scorer across Division-I.

Davis capped his junior season at UNT as the first player in program history to lead the Mean Green in scoring, rebounds and assists. The effort led to his unanimous selection to the all-conference first-team. He averaged 22.5 PPG that year and finished ninth in the NCAA in scoring.

Davis was ultimately named to the UNT Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. He is married to Tamika Davis and they have three children — Breanna, Ciarra and Chris Jr.

The Red Oak Hawks have not yet released a schedule for the upcoming 2021-22 season.

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Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith

tsmith@kbec.com