SPORTS COLUMN: UNC AND HUBERT DAVIS PART WAYS

As a long-time UNC Chapel Hill mens basketball fan, it saddens me to say the administration has decided to relieve head coach Hubert Davis of his coaching duties and find a new leader for the mensbasketball team after five seasons.

Davis took over for legendary head coach Roy Williams in the 2022 season, after being an assistant under Williams for the previous decade. Davis’ tenure was truly a roller coaster ride but he did finish with a 125-54 overall record, which is almost a 70% winning percentage.

Yes, the end of this past season was not a good look for Davis or the team, but people seem to forget that superstar freshman Caleb Wilson was lost due to injury prior to the ACC tournament. He also led the team to an 18-0 home record this season, giving this team the most home wins in a season for any Tar Heel team in the history of the program.

I truly think with the addition of highly touted freshman recruits Dylan Mingo and Maximo Adams, the 2026-27 season could have been a special one for Davis and possibly cemented him as the longtime coach for the Heels. At this point, UNC is only losing Seth Trimble to graduation and Wilson to the draft. 

Now, I am not sure Adams and Mingo will honor their commitments to play at Chapel Hill, and it’s almost assured some players will hit the portal. This could be a rough year depending on how things shake out.

I think the administration jumped the gun too early by letting go of Davis and I honestly think he earned the benefit of the doubt at this point in his career. He took the Heels to the national championship game his first year and then followed that up with a Sweet 16 appearance two seasons later. 

Yeah, I know the Heels were bounced in the first round the last two seasons but Wilson’s injury should have been a factor in that decision. As the old saying goes, “Money talks,” so I think the donors wanted Davis gone and the administration really had no choice after the way the Heels lost to VCU in the first-round game this season.

Even with those back-to-back first round exits from the NCAA Tournament in the last two seasons, things were looking up in Chapel Hill this season, in my opinion. The Tar Heels beat Duke, Kansas and Kentucky this season, which is a nice change from the previous year when UNC couldn’t buy a Quad 1 win and barely snuck into the tournament.

If not for the injury to Wilson, I don’t think Davis would have been let go. I know there were a lot of people calling for Davis to be fired and last season I was kind of on board with it. However, this year I felt he recruited well and brought in some quality players out of the transfer portal. 

Davis was given the option to resign but stated he wanted to continue as head coach for the Heels. After he was let go, he said, “Tonight, I was let go by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. My desire was to continue to coach here. This opportunity has truly been such a blessing.”

Now Carolina is on the hunt for a new head coach and for the first time in program history, the search will include coaches from outside of the “Carolina Family Tree” and from all accounts, Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is the top candidate. Other candidates include Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, who led the Florida Gators to back-to-back national championships, and Michigan coach Dusty May.

Out of the possible top candidates, I would say Lloyd would be the pick for me. Since taking over for former Arizona head coach Sean Miller, Lloyd has returned the Wildcats to national prominence like they enjoyed 30 years ago. He has captured multiple conference titles, taken his team to a Final Four, and has already racked up a host of accolades.

Unfortunately, Lloyd just signed a five-year contract extension with Arizona, so that takes him out of the equation. UNC actually offered more money than Arizona; however, Lloyd still chose to stay and that is a total surprise. I honestly thought it was an offer he couldn’t refuse but he did. After making a deep run in this year’s tournament, May has also taken himself out of consideration for the Tar Heel job as well.

I just heard this morning that Carolina is expected to hire former Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone to take over the mens team. Malone has a championship pedigree as he won an NBA championship with the Nuggets, but hasn’t coached college basketball in over 20 years. Malone is very respected in the professional coaching world by other coaches and players.

Luckily enough for Malone, he doesn’t have to replace a legend like Dean Smith or Williams, so the pressure will be less than what Davis had to face replacing Williams. I wish him nothing but the best – and Go Heels!