The son of one of the region’s most successful HS basketball coaches coming to Cox Mill
Davis Absher has been around basketball all of his life, and he’s moving to the Charlotte-area to stay around the game — and hopefully win a state championship.
On Thursday, Absher, 29, was named boys basketball head coach at Cox Mill High School in Concord, just down the street from the popular Concord Mills Mall.
Absher’s father, Mike, was a longtime coach at Davie County High in Mocksville, and Davis played for his father on the school’s 2012 team that featured future N.C. State and Charlotte Hornets player Cody Martin and Miami Heat player Caleb Martin. That team lost to West Charlotte and future UNC star Kennedy Meeks in the N.C. 4A Western Regional championship game.
MIke Absher won 245 games at Davie County in 19 seasons. His son comes to Cox Mill from Ashe County High School, where he was 21-30 in two seasons.
Davis Absher takes over a Cox Mill team that has not had a losing season since 2011-12 and has won two state championships.
“This is a big thing for me,” Davis Absher said. “It’s a great move for my family. We’ve got a 14-week-old (baby) now and my wife and I love it up here, but the job market is just a little better for her (in Charlotte) and, to put it frankly, I want to compete at the highest level of N.C. high school basketball, and I want to win a state championship, and Cox Mill provides that.”
At Ashe County, Absher led the Huskies to back-to-back N.C. 3A playoff berths and produced several all-conference and all-district players. Before working at Ashe County, Absher was at Division II University of Virginia at Wise for five years. He was an assistant men’s basketball and head golf coach.
At Cox Mill, Absher will take over for Ty Johnson, who was 76-24 as coach from 2019-23. Johnson became athletic director a year ago.
“Coach Absher is the definition of a high school basketball coach,” Johnson said. “He has won as a player and a coach at both the high school and collegiate level, but most importantly he wants to make a difference and make our student-athletes model citizens, model students and model athletes. I am excited to have Coach Absher and his family here ... and for our athletic department to be around him because of his energy and passion for building and protecting the culture of Cox Mill basketball.”
Absher said he’ll start in his new role as physical education teacher and coach later this month or in early May. And he said he can’t wait.
“I want to play fast and pressure people as soon as the ball is inbounded,” Absher said. “I want people to feel pressure from us. I want to score a lot of points and for it to be a very exciting brand of basketball. With the makeup of kids we have at Cox Mill, that gives us a chance night-in and night-out.”
