Analyst rips UNC for firing Hubert Davis without a succession plan

[ASFN Admin]

North Carolina’s coaching search has stalled at a critical moment, with the Tar Heels still without a head coach just days before the transfer portal opens April 7. After missing on top targets, the program now faces the prospect of a prolonged, uncertain search.

UNC fired Hubert Davis on March 19, after the Tar Heels blew a 19-point second-half lead in an 82-78 overtime loss to VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Davis’ tenure was turbulent but not without success: He led North Carolina to a national championship appearance in 2022, an Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in 2024 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in five years.

Still, a roller-coaster run and back-to-back first-round exits, combined with pressure from boosters, pushed UNC’s decision-makers to move on.

The problem, according to multiple indications, is that North Carolina made that move without a clear succession plan. Its top three candidates are either firmly rooted where they are or unavailable because of timing. Tommy Lloyd chose to remain at Arizona. Dusty May, who has led Michigan to the national championship game, told the school he will not be pursuing any coaching jobs. Billy Donovan will not entertain any college opportunity until the NBA regular season ends April 13.

CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein has been blunt: He believes UNC should not have fired Davis without a concrete plan in place. While he acknowledges that the school had understandable reasons to make a change, he argues that the absence of a prepared successor has turned this into a search verging on disaster.

Here’s what he had to say on the Inside College Basketball Podcast on Saturday night along with the full video:

“Everybody wants to pile on Hubert Davis. Everybody wants to say this is not Carolina basketball. The last two years that North Carolina was operating under Roy Williams, you know what North Carolina's record was? 32-30,” Rothstein said. “Hubert Davis, and look, everybody can say whatever they want. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. I did not think he should have been fired at all because I did an interview with him on this show the Thursday before North Carolina was going to play its regular season finale against Duke. North Carolina was 24-6. North Carolina had beaten Duke and Kansas and won road games at Kentucky and Virginia.

Caleb Wilson was getting ready to come back from a hand injury that weekend. Hubert and I taped the interview. He says there's a chance he could play Saturday against Duke. Caleb Wilson goes to practice. He breaks a finger in the other hand, out for the season. Carolina loses to Duke, loses to Clemson in the ACC Tournament, loses to VCU in the NCAA Tournament and had a 19-point lead. I understand the optics. I understand it was a terrible loss. But if you're going to fire Hubert Davis, who was 24-6 before a top five pick in the draft breaks a finger and is out for the season, you better have somebody to replace him.

And I'll tell you, it is 1:35 in the morning on Sunday morning, April 5. We are 12 days away, or we are 12 days removed, excuse me, from when North Carolina fired Hubert Davis. They're not close to having a coach, not close. And the longer this goes, the worse that it looks because I'll tell you this much. I don't think they're getting Dusty May. If I'm betting right now, my net worth, I don't think they're getting Billy Donovan. And then I think you have to ask yourself the question, if you are North Carolina's administration, we're going to pay $10 million to get Mark Buyington or Grant McCasland?”

Whether or not you agree with Rothstein, it is clear UNC believed it could lure a sitting head coach from a major program simply because it is North Carolina. The Tar Heels did successfully poach Roy Williams from Kansas, but that situation was different: Williams is from North Carolina, played at UNC and coached under Dean Smith. When UNC finally hired him, it was on the second attempt. He turned the Tar Heels down in 2000 before accepting the job in 2003.

Is the North Carolina job still one of the best in the country? Yes. But in the NIL era, the playing field is far more level, and UNC is now closer to being just another big name than a program on an untouchable pedestal — just ask Indiana, a school whose once-mighty blue blood basketball brand has drifted to the middle, and sometimes the bottom, of the pack.

The Tar Heels will have to hire a coach as soon as they possibly can. The transfer portal is opening, and UNC does not want to be behind the 8-ball. This does not need to be a full rebuild: The program still has multiple players with eligibility remaining, along with two committed prospects.

However, the longer the wait, the more the uncertainty grows. Players currently on the roster could opt to enter the transfer portal. Top recruit Dylan Mingo technically has not signed with the Tar Heels, and Maximo Adams has not enrolled yet. Even worse for UNC, any potential big-time transfer it was targeting could wind up choosing another school while the program remains in limbo.

UNC has to make a decision fast. Otherwise, Davis should have been kept for at least another year to prove himself — and the university would have had more time to build a thoughtful succession plan if he had failed again.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Tar Heels ripped for shaky coaching search plan

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