If UNC Parts Ways With Hubert Davis, What’s Next - Or Who’s Next - For The Tar Heels?

Things are not looking good for the head coach of the Tar Heels.

After losing to Duke 87-70, not to mention being down by 32, there is no question that Hubert Davis is going to be under immense pressure from UNC fans and the media.

In fact, it’s already started.

Dan Wolken of USA Today says this:

“You can argue for Kansas or Kentucky or even Duke, but North Carolina basketball should not take a back seat to anyone and should not look for excuses when that standard isn’t being met.

“Bad years can happen to anyone, but North Carolina cannot be in the business of basketball mediocrity and cannot accept missing NCAA tournaments every other season. Giving Davis a fifth year for any reason other than believing that he’s a top-10 coach in the country would be an admission that the university no longer considers its basketball job one of the best in all of college sports.”

Cody Williams suggests this on Fansided.

Closer to home, Brett Friedlander had this article. Keep in mind that it was before Saturday’s blow out.

And then of course there’s every Duke fan’s guilty pleasure on X.com, the sublime IC Meltdown. This is just reposts from the Inside Carolina boards after a loss and right now, the reaction is swift and brutal: he gotta go.

Here are a few choice excerpts.

Of course, even if you want a new coach, even if it becomes painfully obvious that Hubert, good man though he is, isn’t ultimately the right guy..what next?

The goal at UNC, since Dean Smith put his stamp on the program, has been to keep it in the family, but the family tree is getting kind of picked over. The only really candidate now is Wes Miller and he’s having a mediocre year with Cincinnati. That said, he’s a promising coach transitioning to a very tough conference. He might work out just fine.

But if not...where do they turn?

Wolken is arguing for a Top Ten coach but that’s not necessarily the answer. But if it is, our money would be on Scott Drew from Baylor. He fits a lot of the Dean mythology. The other guy we’d pursue is definitely not.

We’d make a hard run at Danny Hurley. Look, he’s a Northeast kind of guy. Always has been, and at this point, UConn is better than UNC. However, we’d consider this.

This is armchair psychology but there is a kernel of truth in it that most Triangle fans will recognize.

Danny and brother Bobby are extremely close, but the younger Hurley, on some level, hasn’t just competed with Bobby but was tormented by his brother’s brilliant career. He was constantly compared to him and found wanting. At Seton Hall, the pressures got to him and he had to take a leave of absence.

You may have noticed that at UConn, he has mentioned several times that he’d like a piece of Duke, but Duke hasn’t obliged. Why would he want that? Is it just that, well, Duke is Duke, as Kentucky has fumed about this week over Game Day being in Cameron instead of Rupp?

Or is there a deep need to validate himself?

If we’re Bubba Cunningham - and we’re really glad not to be - we’d call him and press that angle. We’d point out the massive platform of UNC basketball, the long history of New York/New Jersey/Pennsylania talent that has come south, and subtly offer the chance, two or three times a year, to try to beat the snot out of Duke.

Would he bite? His wife Andrea might shoot it down - she’s a Jersey girl and might not like moving south - but it would intrigue him we think, at least as much as the Lakers job did.

Beyond that though, we’re not at all sure that Wolken is right. Look at the schools that have had impressive turn arounds this year:

• Kentucky.
• Louisville.
• West Virginia.
• Vanderbilt.
• Drake.

Kentucky hired Mark Pope and he put together a quick-fix roster and has done a brilliant job in Year 1.

Pat Kelsey took a program that was mentally broken and he’s fixed it. It’s highly competitive now. Also Year 1.

Darian DeVries took over at West Virginia and is not bad at 13-7 after the train wreck of Bob Huggins’ demise. Also Year 1.

Vanderbilt is 16-5 after Mark Byington took over. Also Year 1.

And Drake, under Ben McCollum who just ran up John Wooden numbers at D-II Northwest Missouri State, is now 20-2. Also Year 1.

The goal isn’t to validate your program by opening your checkbook. The goal is to find the best coach for your program.

This would be a good point to list the best ACC coaches of all time and where they came from before moving to this conference.

• Mike Krzyzewski - Army
• Dean Smith - assistant (and assigned to clean up a disaster)
• Jim Valvano - Iona
• Bobby Cremins - Appalachian State
• Lefty Driesell - Davidson
• Terry Holland - Davidson
• Vic Bubas - assistant coach at NC State
• Brad Brownell - Wright State.
• Tony Bennett - Washington State
• Jim Larranaga - George Mason
• Norm Sloan - Florida (which, in the 1960’s, was a train wreck of a program).

We didn't add Roy Williams, but it’s worth noting that Kansas gambled on him as an assistant.

Realistically, putting emotions aside for Coach K, Lefty and anyone else, does anyone really think that any of these coaches couldn’t have succeeded in Chapel Hill?

Of course they would have. They were, or are still, brilliant coaches.

So it’s not the prestige. It’s never the prestige (talking to you, Arkansas). It’s the fit.

We’d like to make one more suggestion. A guy who, it seems to us, might be ready for a big job, is UConn assistant Luke Murray. He’s done a fantastic job with the offense there and we think he’ll do well wherever he ends up.

But honestly, if it were our decision, we’d go after Drew, Hurley or McCollum.

And one last thing: we’re not big fans of firing guys mid-season. It’s not the right way to do things. However, Miami and Virginia both will have had months to plan their next hire. If UNC waits until March, it might make things tougher. We’re not advocating it, not that anyone would care if we did, but realistically, there might be an advantage to moving sooner rather than later. Plus you’ll also be competing with at least Indiana for a major hire and who knows who else.

• “Hubert Davis has to be relieved of his duties”: Fans rally to put UNC HC on hot seat after Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel lead Duke to blowout win
• Is North Carolina serious? What UNC does with basketball coach Hubert Davis will tell us
• 4 Hubert Davis replacements UNC needs on tap with Duke embarrassing Tar Heels
• Jay Bilas assesses pressure on Hubert Davis, draws parallels to 2022 Final Four team
• Why Duke game could become a tipping point in Hubert Davis’ tenure at UNC
• CBB With Danny Z: St. John’s Looks Legit, Hubert Davis Has To Go, And More