Hubert Davis out as UNC coach after NCAA Tournament collapse, coaching search begins

Hubert Davis is no longer the head coach at North Carolina, the school announced Tuesday evening. Sources told CBS Sports that UNC fired Davis, rather than an amicable separation via resignation, and that the school would pay any money remaining on Davis’ contract. Davis buyout exceeds $5 million.

CBS Sports first reported Davis’ uncertain future at his alma mater on Saturday.

Players and staff were informed of the leadership change during a team meeting Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET at Davis, minutes after an email from athletic director Bubba Cunningham arrived in basketball staff members’ inboxes at 8:55 p.m., according to a source. Communication formalized a decision that had been in preparation for days after the sixth-seeded Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead with 14 minutes remaining against No. 11 VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The collapse was the largest by any team in the first round in March Madness history and was also a third straight loss to end UNC’s season. Notably, and most importantly, the Tar Heels were without their best player, Caleb Wilson, who missed the last nine games with separate hand and thumb injuries.

As things came to a head Tuesday night, Davis was called into an emergency meeting with Cunningham, the outgoing AD, as well as new AD Steve Newmark. That’s when Davis was informed of his termination. Shortly after, the players and staff were called for the 9 p.m. meeting.

“This was not an easy decision because of Hubert’s tremendous character and everything he has given to the program, but we must move forward in a way that allows our team to compete more consistently at the elite level,” Cunningham said in a statement.

The break with Davis means a profound change is underway: For the first time in 74 years, the program will almost certainly move outside the Carolina family to find its next men’s basketball coach. The chain was broken because Davis, who oversaw historic accomplishments and memorable victories during his five years as college basketball royalty, was unable to consistently keep North Carolina at the top of the sport.

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Despite the tough times (missing the 2023 NCAA Tournament after being preseason seeded and losing in the first round of NCAAs in back-to-back seasons), Davis had high marks as a head coach. In year one, he led UNC to a victory over Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, scoring an epic victory in college basketball’s most storied rivalry — then surpassed it when his Tar Heels upset No. 1 Duke in the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans, the only meeting ever between the Tobacco Road opponents on an NCAA tournament stage. In the ensuing national title game, UNC blew a 15-point lead against Kansas, marking the largest second-half collapse in title game history.

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North Carolina won first place and went 29-8 in Davis’ third season, 2023-24, but fell in the Sweet 16 to Alabama. Over the past two seasons, UNC has failed to advance past the first round of the NCAAs, marking the first time that has happened in Carolina’s storied basketball history.

There is a standard at Chapel Hill and the program, as a whole, has failed to meet it.

Davis posted the following on Instagram Tuesday evening:

Why now is the time for UNC to move on from Davis

VCU’s loss was the cataclysmic result that forced a restart.

The situation at UNC has become untenable, sources say, given the severity of Thursday night’s loss to the Rams. Davis entered the season with a lot of pressure to succeed. If UNC hadn’t made the NCAA tournament, it would have already been fired. But Carolina had a great season, winning 24 games, peaking with this home win over No. 1 Duke on February 7.

Unfortunately, Wilson broke his hand in the very next game in Miami. UNC went 5-2 following the loss of Wilson, but the worst case scenario occurred with the Heels’ final three games: a loss at Duke to end the regular season, followed by a one-and-done in the ACC Tournament against Clemson and Greenville’s disaster against VCU.

Here’s the timeline of how it all unfolded, via multiple sources on the ground in Chapel Hil:

Davis didn’t take the team bus back to North Carolina after Thursday’s loss, although that’s not an anomaly when a team travels locally and was already scheduled for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. When the team returned to campus Friday afternoon, Davis’ car had already left the parking lot and he did not communicate with his staff for nearly 24 hours. Players had to wait and speculate.

Cunningham then met with Davis on Saturday for initial discussions; this conversation remained confidential. On Sunday, Davis then met with Cunningham, new AD Steve Newmark and school chancellor Lee Roberts. Later that day, Cunningham returned with Davis and asked him to come up with a plan on how to improve UNC next season — if he were to stay on the job.

On Monday, Davis presented his plan and Cunningham and Davis continued to consider it as a potential option, while at the same time, leaders considered the alternative.

Late Tuesday afternoon and early evening, Cunningham and Newmark met with Roberts after coming to the conclusion that the change was the right decision. Davis was called to a meeting with Cunningham and Newmark, who informed him of the change. As soon as he resigned, he was fired and the UNC will therefore pay him more than 5 million dollars as severance.

Amid all of this, UNC held meetings that went on as usual Sunday and Monday, sources said, while people around the program prepared for the change.

As CBS Sports reported this weekend: A core group of boosters met Friday afternoon with UNC stakeholders to determine whether retaining Davis was feasible. The verdict: If Davis were to stay, the money needed to build the squad next season would be less. North Carolina has the No. 26 recruiting class in 2026, including national No. 8 player Dylan Mingo, who is committed but unsigned. The Tar Heels’ latest transfer cycle brought in four blue-chip talents to pair with Wilson outside of the high school ranks, a significant expense that didn’t yield the expected return on investment at season’s end.

With financial support about to dwindle, a change had to happen.

“They would have been handcuffed if Hubert came back,” a source said. “There wouldn’t have been much money for the team.”

Davis’ firing opens up one of the best jobs in college sports. North Carolina has the most Final Four appearances and the No. 1 seed of any program in men’s college basketball history, in addition to a litany of other accomplishments that easily place the program at the top of the men’s college basketball hierarchy.

What’s next for North Carolina?

Now the question arises: How much money should North Carolina spend on a new coach? UNC is practically drowning in costs because the athletic department has tens of millions of dollars tied up in football as part of the extremely shaky Bill Belichick experiment.

Luring a big-name college coach could prove extremely expensive, although buyout situations vary and the numbers are expected to drop in the coming weeks. Names that will be looked at as potential candidates, according to sources, include Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, Michigan’s Dusty May and Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger, in addition to potentially others in the pool who have been thrown around (Florida’s Todd Golden and Alabama’s Nate Oats could emerge as targets). Four of those coaches are still active in the NCAA tournament; The No. 1 seed Golden Gators were eliminated Sunday by No. 9 Iowa.

There are also two NBA names that loom large: Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan. Stevens seems a long shot, but UNC will have to make a call and an impassioned pitch just to be sure. He is president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics and is considered unlikely to return to college basketball, although one told CBS Sports in recent days that Stevens has not given up on the idea of ​​coaching again. That said, if Stevens ever wants to return to the sidelines, he’ll have almost every job he dreams of in the NBA. UNC is still likely to ask, according to a source.

Donovan is another interesting potential candidate. The 60-year-old Chicago Bulls coach hasn’t been to college since 2015. He currently oversees a mid-major team and may be due for a change of scenery. A source told CBS Sports that Donovan would, at the very least, listen and be intrigued by the coaching potential at North Carolina. Donovan has passed on dating other big college jobs before, but North Carolina is the one school that Donovan has always held in particularly high regard.

Ultimately, the expectation here is that North Carolina will bring in the biggest name and strongest resume of any coach in this year’s cycle. With Davis out, the search for the next guy in Chapel Hill emerges as the most important intrigue point in sports as the NCAA Tournament unfolds over the next 12 days.