The No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels led the No. 11 VCU Rams by 11 points at halftime of their first-round matchup in the men’s NCAA Tournament on March 19. North Carolina led by as many as 19 in the second half, but March Madness took over from there, in two ways.
First, UNC collapsed to lose in an unthinkable fashion. Second, instead of rooting for the Tar Heels to win their first national title since 2017, UNC fans are wondering who the next coach will be.
VCU stormed back to force overtime and defeated North Carolina, 82-78. The loss meant North Carolina suffered a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. It was also the last straw for Tar Heels fans, as they immediately called for head coach Hubert Davis to be fired.
By Tuesday, March 24, the University of North Carolina fired Davis, who publicly shared that his “desire was to continue to coach” at UNC.
While a hire is not imminent, a few candidates have emerged to replace Davis.
On Wednesday, longtime basketball analyst and reporter Jeff Goodman said on his “The Field of 68” podcast, “One thing I know for sure: I don’t expect a decision soon. Carolina is not going to rush through this.”
Goodman shared more insights from his reporting on Saturday.
“My sources have told me it’s unlikely Dusty May takes Carolina,” Goodman said. “It’s unlikely. Not gonna say there’s no chance, but Dusty May — as I’ve said before — very happy, family [is] very happy, at Michigan. Obviously, at a point here, the brand at Michigan is huge. They just need a little bit more of an investment to him. Not even his salary or anything like that. More of like, hey, they’re taking regular commercial flights — two commercial flights back to Ann Arbor. That can’t happen.”
Goodman added:
“To me, it falls to [Arizona head coach] Tommy Lloyd being the guy at the top of the list, and the question is, No. 1, Arizona doesn’t have the money like people think. They don’t. I went to school there. They do not have the money that people think they do. The other part is, how happy is he with the administration at Arizona? No. 3 would be, do you want to go all the way across the country? But his kids are older, so it’s a little bit easier to do now.
The other part of this is [Chicago Bulls head coach] Billy Donovan. The thing with Billy is, unless you tell Billy, ‘Hey, Billy, here’s the deal: You’re the guy.’ Billy is just gonna be like, ‘You know what? Come to me if I’m the guy, and then I’ll think about it. But there’s no sense in me going through this process if I’m not the guy.’
I’m telling you: I’ve never seen anybody — ever — talk to more people, think about things, process things, more than Billy Donovan [in] a decision.”
May’s No. 1 Michigan Wolverines and Lloyd’s No. 1 Arizona Wildcats will face off in the Final Four if Michigan beats No. 6 Tennessee on Sunday. Donovan has been the head coach of the Bulls since 2020. The Bulls are eliminated from playoff contention at 29-45 this season and have not won a playoff series under Donovan.
Lloyd sort of quieted speculation on Wednesday, telling reporters, “I already have one of the best jobs in the country.” But he did not outright squash any rumors of his interest in UNC.
St. John’s Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino told NJ Advance Media’s Adam Zagoria that Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger “would do an unbelievable job at North Carolina,” but Otzelberger shut down any speculation on Wednesday night.
Last week, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on SportsCenter that UNC is expected to conduct a nationwide coaching search “outside of the North Carolina family.” UNC’s past five coaches were Davis, Roy Williams, Matt Doherty, Bill Guthridge, and Dean Smith. All five had either been assistants under the previous UNC head coach or played at UNC — or both.
Davis replaced Williams when he retired at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Davis led the Tar Heels to the national title game and held a 15-point lead at halftime over Kansas, but KU won 72-69, which is the biggest national title game comeback in men’s NCAA Tournament history (via NPR).
UNC followed that up by becoming the first-ever preseason No. 1 to miss the NCAA Tournament entirely. While UNC reached the Sweet 16 in 2024, two straight first-round exits proved to be Davis’ undoing. He departed UNC with a 125-54 overall record.
