I’d love his European connections. I think being here could put him over the edge kinda like Roy.
If...
- Thread starter HoopsCoach42
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I like Otzelberger…they seem to consistently play good D and always compete
Well lets see, considering that UNC seemed hell bent on making sure the coach had a UNC footprint, who was it again I was advocating for, it wasn't Hubert or Wes, it was King Rice. So no, that would not make me mad.
But lets be real here, the talent pool of former UNC players that are ready for the prime time of a Mt Rushmore program simply is not deep enough, this requirement that they MUST have played for UNC handicaps us if it is not allowing other very ready coaches to be considered. I think the Belichick hire has changed a lot of things concerning UNC athletics, this may have been changed as well.
Jay Wright left college coaching in 2022, look how much has changed since he left (or was it escaped, LOL). He saw what was coming down, his words were with the portal and NIL like it is the NBA is a much better job. Sound like a guy willing to jump back in to college coaching, doesn't to me.
I see Mark Few's name bantered about a lot, program after program has tried UNSUCCESSFULLY to lure Few away, he has consistently told them no. The guy is entrenched at Gonzaga, he wants to retire from there.
If and I do mean if Hubert is dropped, things have to be dome the right way. Now with Hubert's seat as hot as it is and getting hotter, our AD needs to put out behind the scenes feelers, exactly as he did when we replaced Mack. If the time to pull the trigger comes at the end of this season, we better already have a short list of interested guys lined up and make a quick decision on who it will be, no long drawn out affair. Not just Bubba talking to coaches but talking to agents, maybe even agents talking to agents, back channels not public channels.
What if Danny Hurley or Greg McDermontt expressed interest in being our next head coach would you want either? I don't know about you but for me, darn right I would be thrilled with either! I just prefer Kelvin more and feel like we would have a far better chance at him.
Sadly, that ship has sailed but had UNC done what I felt they should have Phil would have been our coach rather than Matt, which of course means Roy would have stayed at Kansas. Yes, I darn sure did want Phil Ford as our coach more than I wanted Roy.
Now bring in Phil to fill a role like Steve had with Roy for Hubert, solid move.
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Shaka Smart has shown that he can coach teams that stay ranked. He's coached in several different conferences. I'm not sure if he can actually win championships. He's younger, has at least 10-15 years or more ahead of him.
Shaka just has never really blown me away, why, good start is your own words "He's coached in several different conferences. I'm not sure if he can actually win championships"...
The more I think about it the more I think the next HC needs to a young, hungry guy coming from mid-major who has a chip on his shoulder. Steve Forbes has done a good job bringing Wake back to relevancy mainly because he can identify talent to bring on board. Much of that was his background at ETSU, he was used to his best players transferring to bigger schools and he wasn't recruiting 5*'s to come there.
I am not advocating for him although I have heard him speak many times and he is hilarious. I just believe in today's environment that evaluating talent is even more critical, and ideally you would have stud freshman or two, a few impact transfers and depth you created by identifying lower ranked hs players you could develop.
One question about Sean May if anyone knows. He has been on staff a while but never heard his name rumored to be taking another job. I was curious if that is because he just isn't that highly thought of in the coaching ranks or it's known he isn't leaving Chapel Hill. I am not criticizing him just find it odd I've never heard his name connected anywhere considering he does a solid resume as an assistant.
I am not advocating for him although I have heard him speak many times and he is hilarious. I just believe in today's environment that evaluating talent is even more critical, and ideally you would have stud freshman or two, a few impact transfers and depth you created by identifying lower ranked hs players you could develop.
One question about Sean May if anyone knows. He has been on staff a while but never heard his name rumored to be taking another job. I was curious if that is because he just isn't that highly thought of in the coaching ranks or it's known he isn't leaving Chapel Hill. I am not criticizing him just find it odd I've never heard his name connected anywhere considering he does a solid resume as an assistant.
Has Mark Few really ever had a chance to say “no” to one of the Big 4 jobs? Self has been at Kansas forever, no one wants the Kentucky job with the delusional fanbase, and UNC and Dook went in-house. Nova and Arizona are the next tier of prestige and Nova basically hired in-house too and Arizona ended up hiring Few’s number 1 assistant
If they hire King Rice or Wes Miller then that's an indication that winning is not the priority. From there, fans can make the decision if it's worth supporting a program that isn't serious about winning. They'd be more serious in keeping this cult-like, constitutional monarchy going.
Another relevant question here is does 1 win or 2 wins over Duke guarantee Hubert's job security next season?
Maybe more important... Should a win or two over Duke guarantee Hubert's job security next season?
I would advise against one or two games being too influential in this important process.
Maybe more important... Should a win or two over Duke guarantee Hubert's job security next season?
I would advise against one or two games being too influential in this important process.
I wouldn't mind seeing what King could do with the current roster. But it's unlikely we'll find out.
He did manage to turn Walker Miller into a serviceable center, after all. And from the very little I've seen, his players enjoy playing for him.
This is my worry, it shouldn't effect the process but I'm very afraid it will. Matter of fact I'm afraid that Caleb Wilson committing is going to buy him another year, and then next year us being just enough better to to get him one after that.
Honestly I'm not sure how much or what the temperature is for someone like Izzo at Michigan St because I get the feeling he is firmly in the rut that we don't ever want to be in. You win just enough to stay employed and never win and national championship.
Im torn I want nothing more than to beat dook in everything from Basketball to field hockey but im afraid we catch them on a good night they shoot like shit and we can't miss and we steal one.
We have got to take recency bias out of the equation, I see it every where I even feel it we win a game and play well and I start feeling like okay is turning in the right direction but then we play again and look like we got worse.
It's very obvious that he doesn't have what it takes, we can't articulate what's going on or what's wrong in pressers, he gets out coached in every late game situation, and if he is truly telling the truth of what he thinks about when speaking about player like Tyson and Washington he is a terrible at scouting talent.
Im not sure a 12 pack of Busch Light will be enough for tomorrow night.
One question is whether UNC is still a strong enough draw to get the good players, regardless of coach. Doherty got good players. Hubert gets good players. Would King Rice or Wes Miller get good players?
How many kids these days say they want to be like some UNC player? Jordan is 61. Who's even seen him play?
Roy enhanced and then mostly held onto UNC's reputation, despite the NCAA cloud, COVID and his own decline. But UNC as a brand has been slipping, and this season isn't helping.
Just to flip that question, should 2 losses to duke this season insure he needs to go?
My concern is that yes, Hubert has made a LOT of rookie mistakes (my opinion) but UNC hired him as a rookie head coach, rookie mistakes should have been expected. Freshman players don't come in and play like they do as seniors, same should be the expectation of a rookie head coach that has never before been a head coach of a program. We not just tolerate freshman mistakes we expect them, we know as the go along they will improve, I think that should as well be the expectation for Hubert. The time line for a coach in my view is and has to be much longer than that of a player. I really think a coach has to have a solid 10yrs of being a successful head coach before he takes on a blue blood program with VERY few exceptions, Roy and the4 current Arizona head coach being 2 rare exceptions.
It is no fun to have to endure the rookie mistakes from a player or a coach but UNC set that up by hiring Hubert, they set it up when they hired Matt as well. I would suggest that Hubert's perceived failure as a head coach today is really more based on his having a disaster of a portal season as well as what was before Wilson committed a failure in 2025 high school recruiting.
For those calling for him to be fired now, I would offer, in his very first season as UNC head coach he did coach UNC to the NCAAT title game. In his 3rd season as head coach Hubert did led his team to the ACC regular season title, was a 1 seed for the NCAAT, and was ACC coach of the year. IN addition, if bringing in talent is important to you, he did get the commit from GG Jackson who was #1 in his class I think. Hubert did bring in 2 top 10 kids that are freshmen right now in Jackson and Powell, he did just get the commit from the #5 player in the 2025 class. In addition Hubert did score 3 home runs from the portal in Manek, Ingram, and Cormac Ryan. He also scored what pretty much every GURU said were big time scores at the time he got their commits in Tyson and Dawson Garcia even thou they did not work out as basically every expert thought they would. In addition, Hubert did lead UNC to 2 of the greatest games in UNC history, hanging K with a loss to UNC in his very last game as head coach in Cameron and ending K's career with that loss to UNC in the NCAAT. That is actually a pretty darn impressive resume for not having completed his 4th season as head coach yet.
That isn't opinion, them be da facts (poor grammar purposely used to lighten the mood) that just are not up for dispute, LOL. This will or would be what other coaches that you may prefer to be the UNC coach rather than Hubert, that is what they will be looking at more than what fans want to scream out of emotion. Hope I don't need to define what the word fan is short form for...
Want to make the case for why he should go, you can save the over thinking and just go back and read what I have said for the last 3yrs, I have likely made your case for you, yet I am actually not calling for him to be fired or step down, what have I said about that? That I am waiting for the last game we play this season and then take a long hard look but for now I am inclined to bring him back for at least 1 more. I could change my mind after that last game has been played, I like everyone have changed my mind when additional information arrived. But I will tell you that my decision will not be because we lose to duke twice this season or if we miss the NCAAT.
I recognize that others feel way differently, take nothing I have shared here as being in any way disrespectful to any other opinion, I am just sharing my thoughts on this and trying to be very respectful to anyone who may not agree, I actually do think I may be in the minority opinion on this, been there before to, not my first rodeo.
The questions aren't singular specific parts of coaching that will end up being brought up over and over again.
The question is of the realistic candidates that UNC could get a "yes" from, is Hubert Davis the best coach from that group. I don't know what the realistic pool of candidates will be. But if Hubert's the best of that group, then Hubert should be the head coach. If he isn't, then Hubert shouldn't be the head coach.
I think this is overcomplicating things and that's normal when your program is in a predicament like UNC's appears to be right now. This should be really simple. If the realistic candidates for this position include coaches who are better than Hubert Davis, then Hubert should not be retained. If the realistic candidates are worse, then Hubert should be the coach at UNC.
In the end, I don't think Hubert is the best option for UNC. I think UNC is hoping that Hubert is the right option. So whenever the change is made, that will be a good day for UNC in my opinion. But every season that's delayed for whatever reason I feel puts UNC at a significant disadvantage.
Leadership has to make difficult, objective, and unemotional decisions. What I'm gathering from people who want to keep it in the family or Hubert accomplished this or that, so give him a chance... Those sound more emotional to me. And when you have to self-evaluate, it's really important to be unemotional and objective.
I honestly think that being to family oriented could be a disadvantage right now. Someone wiser than me once said it's hard to read the label from inside the bottle. At UNC, almost everyone is inside the bottle right now.
If Hubert is here for 10 more seasons, I'm sure UNC will have other good seasons. I'm sure they'll have other really poor seasons. It isn't about those seasons individually. It's about whether Hubert is the right person to be the head coach for this program at this time in college basketball. I find it hard to say that's a "yes."
I really don't care who the coach is. I just want a return to Carolina basketball. I miss the multiple defenses, the fast breaks, the pointing at the assist man, sharing and moving the basketball, and every player giving maximum effort! UNC basketball used to be joy to watch, even if we lost the occasional game. Now it hurts my eyes to the point that I've watched 1 full game this year, and don't intend to watch another.
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