North Carolina must now go outside the family to replace Hubert Davis, and that’s a good thing

North Carolina must now go outside the family to replace Hubert Davis, and that’s a good thing originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

If you wish to look at things from the most positive perspective possible, Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty and Hubert Davis reached a combined three Final Fours and recruited the foundation of a team that won the fourth of the university’s six national championships in the time they served as North Carolina head coach.

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And then there’s the other view, which shows they missed the NCAA Tournament a combined three times in 11 years, finished with double-digit losses seven times, twice departed March Madness in first-round upsets and recruited the foundation of the Tar Heels’ only single-digit victory season in the past 60 years.

Their combined career records upon being hired: 22-15. All those wins and all those losses belonged to Doherty. Guthridge had been Dean Smith’s assistant for 30 years. Davis assisted Roy Williams for nine. All were considered part of the Carolina “family,” though, and that was essential to getting the job. This is the most coveted job in college coaching, and essentially 99 percent of the candidate pool had no chance whatsoever.

BENDER: Seven names to watch in North Carolina’s search

If you think about it, hiring from the fam allowed Carolina to be run by two of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, Dean Smith and Roy Williams, but also to bat just .400 in an arena where anything less than 1.000 costs money, time and more anguish than anyone wants to ponder.

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Hiring the best possible coach when the job is open always is the right way to go.

It’s open now, and that’s apparently the only way to go this time.

With Carolina alums Wes Miller and Jerry Stackhouse recently failing at the high-major level, there is no obvious candidate accustomed to wearing Carolina blue. The lessons of the past 30 years should be…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/north-carolina-must-now-outside-033741857.html

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Publish date : 2026-03-25 03:37:00

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