UNC hires Hubert Davis as its next basketball coach
![Roy Williams et al. sitting in front of a crowd: Head coach Roy Williams and assistant coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels look on during the City Of Palms Classic at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 19, 2018, in Fort Myers, FL..]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1fktKV.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=819&y=596"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1fktKV.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=819&y=596"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1fktKV.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=819&y=596"}})
In the end, family was sacrosanct. Hubert Davis played for Dean Smith, and that’s like shaking Frank Sinatra’s hand. It cannot be faked or replicated. You either did or didn’t.
There was more than that, obviously: Davis becomes North Carolina’s first, and long overdue, Black football or basketball coach, and he had the crucial backing of his predecessor, Roy Williams.
But the lineage that goes back to Frank McGuire, back to Smith and now back to Williams, remains uninterrupted with Davis’ promotion into the head job Monday.
Whether that should have mattered as much as it did, whether that made Davis a better candidate than anyone else out there who has actually been a college head coach, is almost immaterial. It’s essential to what makes North Carolina basketball different from other programs. If it’s the best job in the country, as athletic director Bubba Cunningham said with some justification, that lineage and everything it represents is a big reason why.
‘A TENACIOUS, BURNING DESIRE’
Davis does not have any prior head coaching experience on the Division I level. However, he was essentially groomed in a similar way that Williams once learned as an assistant under Smith. Williams tapped Davis to coach UNC’s junior varsity team as a way to get used to making decisions as a head coach in real time.
“Hubert Davis is the best leader we can possibly have for our men’s basketball program,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “He teaches student-athletes on and off the court. He inspires his fellow staff members. He is strongly committed to family. He has a tenacious, burning desire to be the best he can possibly be; we witnessed that when he was a player, a broadcaster and an assistant coach – and I have no doubt he will ensure than our student-athletes and program will be the best they can be, as well.”
Bubba Cunningham and Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz interviewed at least eight candidates over the weekend, including two who did not play at Carolina. That includes current assistant coach Steve Robinson, who worked on Williams’ staff at Kansas and UNC for a combined 26 years. He also spent seven years as a head coach at Tulsa and Florida State. Cunningham also interviewed Stanford coach Jerod Haase, who played for Williams at KU, served as an assistant coach at UNC from 2003-09.
According to the university, Cunningham and Guskiewicz sought input from “dozens of men’s basketball alumni and senior Department of Athletics officials.”
“Hubert Davis connects our storied past with our exciting future and has a deep passion for putting our student-athletes in the best position to succeed on and off the court,” Guskiewicz tweeted. “I can’t wait to see him on campus as the face of UNC basketball.”
To ensure Davis has the support he needs as a new coach, there will be an emphasis on constructing his new staff. Cunningham has asked some of the former players with coaching experience about their interest in serving a supporting role.
Others like George Lynch, Davis’ former teammate and a member of the 1993 national championship team, have reached out expressing their interest. Lynch was the head coach at Division II Clark-Atlanta University and also served two stints on the staff at SMU during the tenures of former Tar Heels Matt Doherty and later Larry Brown.
As Davis begins his tenure, he shares several traits with Williams with both revering their time spent at UNC.
“I played here, I earned my degree here, I fell in love with my wife here, I got married here,” Davis said in a statement Monday. “I moved here after I retired from the NBA and I have raised my family here. I am proud to lead this team, and I can’t wait for all that comes next.
Hubert Davis
Head Coach
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- Former Tar Heel guard and 12-year NBA veteran Hubert Davis is in his ninth season as a member of the Carolina Basketball coaching staff. His duties include recruiting, bench coaching and scouting.
He oversees the squad’s charitable endeavors and clinics and has served as the head coach of the UNC junior varsity team.
Davis worked for seven years with ESPN as an analyst and co-host of the College GameDay program.
The Burke, Va., native played in 137 games as a Tar Heel from 1988-92, during which time UNC went 102-37, won the 1989 and 1991 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournaments and played in the 1991 Final Four. He scored 1,615 points (11.8 per game) and holds the UNC record for career three-point percentage at .435. He had 23 games with 20 or more points.
He scored in double figures in each of his last eight NCAA Tournament games, averaging 18.5 points in those games. That included 19 against Temple in the 1991 NCAA East Regional final and 25 against Kansas (coached by Williams) in the 1991 Final Four.
Davis averaged 21.4 points and earned second-team All-ACC honors as a senior. He scored in double figures in 32 of 33 games that season, including 20 games with 20 or more points and 30 or more in four games. He netted a career-high 35 points at Duke on March 8, 1992. That 35-point game was part of a seven-game stretch late in the season in which he averaged a prolific 28.7 points.
The New York Knicks selected Davis with the 20th pick in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft. He played 12 seasons in the NBA, scoring 5,583 points, an average of 8.2 per contest. He made 728 three-point field goals and is currently third in NBA history in three-point percentage at .441.
Davis graduated from UNC in 1992 with a degree in criminal justice. He and his wife, Leslie, have three children – Elijah, Bobbie Grace and Micah. Elijah will be playing collegiately at the University of Lynchburg next season. Hubert’s uncle, Walter, starred at UNC from 1973-77 and was a six-time NBA All-Star with the Phoenix Suns.
 Davis on ESPN’s College Gameday broadcast.
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| North Carolina Tar Heels | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | May 17, 1970 Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 183 lb (83 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Lake Braddock Secondary (Burke, Virginia) |
| College | North Carolina (1988–1992) |
| NBA draft | 1992 / Round: 1 / Pick: 20th overall |
| Selected by the New York Knicks | |
| Playing career | 1992–2004 |
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Number | 44, 24 |
| Coaching career | 2012–present |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1992–1996 | New York Knicks |
| 1996–1997 | Toronto Raptors |
| 1997–2001 | Dallas Mavericks |
| 2001–2002 | Washington Wizards |
| 2002–2004 | Detroit Pistons |
| 2004 | New Jersey Nets |
| As coach: | |
| 2012–2021 | North Carolina (assistant) |
| 2021–present | North Carolina |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As player:
As assistant coach:
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| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 5,583 (8.2 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 1,045 (1.5 rpg) |
| Assists | 1,172 (1.7 apg) |
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