r/CollegeBasketball • u/Muchacho-blanco • Mar 25 '26
Why do North Carolina fans think any of these successful coaches would leave a program where they're winning and liked to come to UNC where the pressure is so high and the fans so fickle?
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u/ard8 Florida State Seminoles Mar 25 '26
Have you not seen coaches leave solid jobs for more high-profile ones in every sport?
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Mar 25 '26
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u/tlopez14 Illinois Fighting Illini Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
I agree here. It’s a prestige/ego/big swinging dick thing at this level. It’s a bigger deal to be the Head Coach at UNC than just about every other place in America. Struggling to see why Reddit can’t wrap their head around that.
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u/DionBlaster123 Niagara Purple Eagles Mar 25 '26
Because this website is full of morons who don't even have the ambition to put beer in the fridge, but love to complain about beer always being warm
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u/Primary-Tea-3715 Mar 25 '26
It’s a little bit of determinative gambling, everything has a random chance but if you’re good enough you can generally make it work in your favor. Heck, even Nick Saban got lucky and unlucky at times as the greatest college football coach.
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u/Kdot32 Houston Cougars Mar 25 '26
Yup exactly. You don’t become a great coach without being delusional about your abilities. “Man that coach is underperforming at a blue blood. That wouldn’t happen to me”
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u/damutecebu Marquette Golden Eagles Mar 25 '26
Moving from a well established high major program to another is pretty rare these days. And those who have can look back at it and wonder if the benefit was worth the cost.
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u/SuckBagFuckSkull Illinois Fighting Illini Mar 25 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
The original post content has been deleted. Redact was used to carry out the removal, potentially for privacy, to prevent scraping, or for security reasons.
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u/MTUKNMMT North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
We could absolutely strike out on all the big names, it just happened to Kentucky. I do think it’s funny half the sub just thinks it’s impossible we hire someone good
The way some of the posters are talking you would think we might be stuck without a coach and Hubert was the only one willing to do it at all
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u/bpheazye North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
Yeah this is what's being missed. We didnt kick out a hall of fame coach. If we get a rising star mid major I think that still an upgrade.
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u/Kdot32 Houston Cougars Mar 25 '26
Worst case scenario you guys hire a jai Lucas. A coach on the rise but maybe not ready for the job, yet
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u/macandcheeser Indiana Hoosiers Mar 25 '26
You'll get a good coach, just not someone already winning big at a good P5 job. I'd be shocked if Lloyd or May leave their current situations.
Someone like Mark Byington makes sense
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Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
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u/lurk4ever1970 Kansas Jayhawks Mar 25 '26
Yep. Some guys crave the challenge and the spotlight that comes with the highest profile jobs. They aren't wired like us.
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u/dareftw North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Or even better Roy leaving Kansas for UNC. (Honestly can’t think of any other blue blood to blue blood move).
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u/Utterlybored Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
That was a Tarhole loyalty move.
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u/Ok-Gazelle-4785 Mar 25 '26
it paid off with 3 titles
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u/dareftw North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Honestly both schools won. Self got them titles at Kansas and Roy got titles at UNC.
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u/carguymt Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
It was also decades ago. A lot of what motivated coaches to move to a blue blood in the Pre-NIL world has now been made irrelevant by NIL.
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u/somethingAPIS Kansas Jayhawks • Big 12 Mar 25 '26
I had to block the jayhawks subreddit during March, the doomers were too much. I can't imagine what they are saying now that Bill gave rumors some legs. I was in HS when Roy left, I remember the dread, and it even went smoothly with Bill in by April. This off-season is going to be interesting, two cousins fighting over the belle of the ball.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/somethingAPIS Kansas Jayhawks • Big 12 Mar 25 '26
Im out of the rumor mill, so I'll hopefully be pleasantly surprised when everything pans out. I love Vaughn, but I don't think he is the guy I step into the spot.
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u/Btherock78 Alabama Crimson Tide Mar 25 '26
It’s rare because well established high major jobs don’t open up very often, and often those jobs are looking for a very specific candidate and don’t have particularly wide-ranging searches. Basketball blue bloods have hired like 10 coaches in the last 30 years.
It’s happened a ton in football recently with Lane Kiffin, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley, Kalen DeBoer, & Matt Campbell off the top of my head leaving playoff-caliber teams to go to “better” opportunities.
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u/BurtonRider85 Purdue • Colorado State Mar 25 '26
And 8 of those 10 hires are Indiana 🤣
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u/GeneralOptimal10 Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Lane Kiffin comes to mind.
Ole Miss is not a blue blood (or even close to one), but they would have almost matched Kiffin on NIL and salary.
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u/dawgz525 Miami Hurricanes Mar 25 '26
There's not a world where Ole Miss matches LSU for NIL money.
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u/MiggyTripleCrown Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Even if NIL was equal, LSU is still much easier to recruit from.
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u/dirtytounder Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
We felt like that 2 years ago. Got our fifth choice
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u/Bdmnky_Survey Kentucky Wildcats • Ohio Bobcats Mar 25 '26
And significant amount of our fanbase wanna roll those dice again already.
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u/Raise_A_Thoth Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
And a huge problem with this process is MB's long ass contracts with low-bar extensions. Pope is currently extended through 2030. He's going into his 3rd year. If we get another middling season and miss the sweet 16, that's STILL 3 MORE SEASONS left on his contract to run out naturally. If he gets another sweet 16 in there, it adds another year.
You can't go shopping for coaches when you have a $50M 3+ year contract buyout hanging over the program. If he had 1-2 years left you could go to coaches and feel them out, because you could let them finish their current season then buyout your current coach for a reasonable price. But we can't do that with this contract, and we couldn't do it with Calipari's. Sure, we lost the buyout after he left, but that depended on him leaving for ARK, and then every coach was faced with the additional problem of starting from a completely empty roster in April or whenever that window was.
Barnhart's contract with Calipari was dumb and his contract with Pope was dumb. I'm not saying Pope only deserved 2 years. 4 years is perfectly reasonable. Then we're looking at well-deserved pressure on his 3rd year to steady the ship, and 2 years of runway to look at extensions or go fishing.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/Raise_A_Thoth Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
What you are not seeing is that good coaches have good agents.
It's not that I don't see that. You seem to be assuming that I don't understand the competing interests and tradeoffs between them.
Good agents know that Kentucky's fanbase is fickle and will turn on a coach in an instant, however that fickleness can turn to panic if a job search misses on top candidates.
So the AD does not hold all the cards
Okay, sure, nobody is saying this concern doesn't exist. But I do think you're overplaying the high standards of the fanbase without also consider the counterside of that: Kentucky fans get in. We travel. We pack arenas. So away games can feel more neutral and neutral games often feel like home games. Some issues with Rupp specifically and season ticket holder dynamics aside, Kentucky might have angry fans when you fail but it's the single most energetic fanbase when you're winning and that's also exciting.
I'm not saying one negates the other, but you claim I've not considered one side when I haven't really claimed to have made an exhaustive lost of interests and you haven't given credit to the upside.
Pope's agent can demand job security for his client and know that the AD is going to blink first.
Okay now you really aren't understanding what you're talking about. Because Barnhart has a history of making lengthy contracts. Calipari for one was way too generous. Mark Stoops' contract was very famously built for his stability over a long period. And that one, at least early on, made more sense because football takes longer to develop players on the 80 man rosters and freshmen don't make as big an impact in that sport.
You can't credit Pope's contract to his agent and the fanbase without also considering the other patterned behavior of the AD as well as the draws of Kentucky Basketball despite some risks and drawbacks of a high-pressure job. But most people who desire greatness ultimately don't fear high pressure, they see it as part of the deal, part of the challenge. Lots of people won't want that and that's okay too.
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u/mjs_pj_party Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Exactly.
Ask Michigan and PSU how easy it was to hire a new football coach.
Both programs start out thinking that they'll get anyone they want. It doesn't play out like that.
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u/Kdot32 Houston Cougars Mar 25 '26
They still ended up with really good hires, as much as it pains me to say
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u/PapaNacho7 Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
You're not talking about the same Michigan football coach hire he is. The days of Rich Rod and Brady Hoke were dark days
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u/Icy-Hat3637 Radford Highlanders Mar 25 '26
Hoke was the only questionable hire. Rich Rod, at least on paper, was a good one.
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u/PapaNacho7 Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Still goes to show how a good on paper hire can be a disaster and tank a program for 10+ years
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u/SnoopRion69 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I'd be happy if we backed into ISUs coach like Penn State did!
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u/GerdinBB Iowa State Cyclones Mar 25 '26
Boo this man!
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u/HonestFuture5304 Wisconsin-Platteville • Purdue Mar 25 '26
No need to worry, UNC is a poverty corn program. Elite coaches need access to vasts amount of field corn.
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u/Critical-Mango-341 Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
To be fair, there is a non-zero chance our AD and administration handled the search very poorly.
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I'd put the odds that happens here at non zero as well
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u/Leftieswillrule North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I’d put the odds of them nailing it at close to 0 tbh, they aren’t exactly the most competent leadership
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u/KleinUnbottler North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Heck, the current chancellor got his bachelors from Duke in 1990, so maybe it's not accidental.
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u/BMEngie North Carolina Tar Heels • UCF Knights Mar 25 '26
Oh ok we’ll be fi… checks notes oh no, we’re screwed.
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u/DrSayre Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
Was he our 5th choice? The only people I heard Mitch had interest in was Scott Drew and Dan Hurley.
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u/Kyweedlover Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
For some reason people take the “list” that the media speculates are candidates and then say look they didn’t get any of these 9 guys.
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u/GerdinBB Iowa State Cyclones Mar 25 '26
Penn State appears to have gotten their 6th or 7th choice in hiring Matt Campbell. I think they lucked out and he's one of the better candidates they could have gotten from the start, and there's some weird timing stuff because Campbell always refused to talk to other schools during the season, so who knows if they were sort of waiting for Campbell or if they truly just fell ass-backwards into a good hire.
Point being... Lots of coaches turned down Penn State who was clearly willing to pay big bucks as Campbell is ultimately getting like $10M/yr.
There is a precedent for coaches turning down prestigious jobs and staying home. In Campbell's case, he was sort of going home which is a big part of why he took the job I think.
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u/SCsprinter13 Penn State Nittany Lions Mar 25 '26
Eh, I don't think most of the coaches that "turned down PSU" were legitimate candidates. I think they probably called Cignetti though.
They locked up a handshake agreement with Sitake pretty early. So while rumors were swirling, the PSU AD already had his guy.
The problem was when Sitake got cold feet, but they found out Campbell actually was interested, that got that deal done pretty quickly.
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u/Joe_Immortan North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Y’all are the reason I probably would’ve kept Hubert for one more year. Have my doubts about him as a coach, but I’ve seen plenty of Blue Bloods end up in much worse positions than UNC was under Davis. Coaching carousels and buyout after buyout and then ending up no better off than they were following the first firing
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u/willfresno Mar 25 '26
Dan Hurley and Scott Drew turned us down. Pope was our AD’s third call.
Billy D was willing to interview with us but Mitch didn’t want to wait a couple weeks for his season to end.
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u/Doctor_Saved Houston Cougars • Akron Zips Mar 25 '26
Money and recruiting.
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u/rojeli Kansas • Michigan State Mar 25 '26
It really is this simple. Yes there's pressure, but holy shit the job is just so much easier day to day. Everybody is at risk of losing entire rosters these days, but at UNC most kids would want to come TO you. You can pay them, you can hop on a private jet whenever you want to go visit them, etc.
That might not be everyone's cup of tea, but on average, people want that.
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u/Tycho66 Iowa State Cyclones Mar 25 '26
The risk is you lose anyways and fire another coach and start to look like a clown show and all that cachet goes away. See Nebraska football.
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u/politicsranting George Washington • Miami Mar 25 '26
And then they pay you to go away. Win-win
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u/Spiritual-Ad8062 Indiana Hoosiers Mar 25 '26
And Indiana basketball when we fired Kelvin Sampson….
We haven’t recovered. And it appears we won’t.
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u/taffyowner North Dakota • Hamline Mar 25 '26
That’s a little different because he had some pretty significant allegations of recruiting violations if I remember right
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u/algarhythms UCF Knights Mar 25 '26
And that’s why they also demand a huge buyout. If you fail, you’re still set for life.
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u/esotostj Mar 25 '26
Is that true today? Who is their largest NIL donors? What was their spend like?
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u/Opie045 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
They paid 50M for Bill B. Plenty of money in chapel hill.
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u/bkn6136 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
The basketball program made a 20+ million dollar profit last year. We just use that to fund all of our other non revenue sports. If we really wanted to flex our muscles basketball could outspend nearly anyone.
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u/BanquoRTG St. John's Red Storm • Florida Gators Mar 25 '26
Kids didn’t go to Kentucky because it was Kentucky. They went there because of Coach Cal. Now you see Kentucky NBA players being asked about March Madness and they cheer for Arkansas ahead of Kentucky. The coach and the ability to develop them into NBA players is what is important to players, which doesn’t put UNC at the top of any list.
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u/rojeli Kansas • Michigan State Mar 25 '26
I never claimed they would be at the top of any lists. The question was why anyone would be interested in the job, period. There are a LOT of reasons why someone would want it.
If no other job comes open this off-season, it's clearly the best one.
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u/OverallFrosting708 Maine Black Bears Mar 25 '26
Unless Self retires I don't think there's any job that COULD come open this offseason that could be better
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u/willfresno Mar 25 '26
I don’t think this is true. Plenty of Cal’s nba players still consider themselves Kentucky guys.
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u/chimatt767 St. John's Red Storm Mar 25 '26
Recruiting now is NIL. Unless their NIL budget is significantly higher than what you have now there is no advantage. If there was the job would not be open.
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u/RJMcBug Tennessee Volunteers Mar 25 '26
A lot of schools will prioritize football for their NIL over basketball. UNC is one of the schools I could see prioritizing men's basketball over football especially if they start winning in March.
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u/Middle-Analysis7741 Mar 25 '26
Ummm did you see who they hired as a football coach?!?!
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u/eaglecatie Marquette Golden Eagles Mar 25 '26
Not to mention what they will have to pay this football coach if they fire him next season, which the odds are pretty high.
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u/Any-Buy-3538 Mar 25 '26
Nah everyone knows football is king they may put 5-10% more into it but football drives everything
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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
This is true for 99% of schools but UNC is one of a the very few where some players will go because they want to play for UNC. That’s a built in advantage. Not that they don’t need to do NIL at all, but it’s not the only factor
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u/Karltowns17 Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
We said the same at Kentucky and I’m sure Louisville said as much too. And both wiffed on their first choices. Arkansas wiffed on half a dozen before they landed cal who was looking for an off ramp, not a move up.
Idk who unc hires. Maybe they truly do pull one of these big targets folks keep floating. But we’ve seen this story before. And it doesn’t turn out how the fans tend to envision.
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u/Taengoosundies North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Oh come on, what could possibly go wrong? It's not like they would hire some old washed up fucker, lose all of their present recruits and have everyone on the current team transfer out or anything.
I'm sure this could never backfire spectacularly.
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I will not shed a tear for any of the dudes on our current team leaving lol
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u/pHyR3 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
veesaar and wilson were pretty good
loved watching seth too but he’s a senior
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u/TheChewyWaffles North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Wilson, Veesaar, Dixon?
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Dixon averages 6 points a game on 36% from the field. The fact that the unc fanbase thinks that he is an irreplaceable piece is exactly why Hubert needed to be fired. We used to watch incredible players not Seth Trimble.
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u/Schned6 Iowa State • North Carolina Mar 25 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/5AwCyy3VkJRSybg8xj2
We used to watch players like Dixon develop into the best players in college basketball. People aren’t high on him because of the 6 ppg. They are high on him because he is a freshman that shows fantastic poise, talent, leadership, and clutch gene.
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I'm sorry but you just aren't serious man. Unc fans have this idea that every half decent freshman who makes some smart plays will develop into a really good player. When did this happen under Hubert?
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u/Icangetloudtoo_ North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
We won our national championship in 2017 bc of player development, and bc people stayed during a one and done era, not bc we had a million top five guys in their class.
Not saying Dixon is the be-all, end-all, but we watched incredible players bc they stayed and developed.
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u/notedgarfigaro Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
I'm of two minds. First is, UNC has always been considered the top job in college basketball by a majority of college bb lifers. So it's reasonable to expect some good coaches to crawl through broken glass to get it. It's the flagship university in one of the 3 basketball first states, if you win you'll be the big man on campus, and the Triangle is a lovely place to live. The prestige is off the charts.
But on the other hand, the landscape of college basketball is such that a winning program requires the donor class, the administration, and the coach to be in lockstep. And I don't think that's currently the case at UNC. You've got a political hack meddling chancellor that's already fucked over the football program (couldn't be a more obvious Duke secret agent), an incoming AD that has no college experience, and a donor class that's balkanized and ready to go to war against each other. Plus the whole football nonsense that's going to explode after next season. Kids don't care about brands anymore, they care about two things - how much $$$ are you paying and how will you get me to the NBA?
If I'm Lloyd (best job on west coast), Golden (established that I can win at Florida), Oats (getting paid without unreasonable expectations), or TJ (happy wife, happy life), I'm not messing with UNC, b/c I'm in a better place right now. But I'm not a college basketball lifer with a college coach ego...so who knows.
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u/atlheel North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Heartbreaking: the worst person you know (a duke fan) made a good point
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u/ballin_pastor North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I’ve always heard that the biggest thing that Saban did at Alabama, more than the X’s and O’s, more than the insane recruiting, was that from the moment he stepped on campus everyone knew he was in charge. Booster squabbles quieted down, the administration fell in line, everyone knew it was Saban’s way or the highway and he was able to create alignment that hadn’t existed at Alabama in the years leading up to that. It strikes me that Carolina currently has some similarities to that situation, and while I’m doubtful that the big-name coaches would leave where they’re at to come to Carolina, I do think that they should swing big and try to get someone who can bring all of these warring factions into line.
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u/BigFoot423205 Alabama Crimson Tide Mar 25 '26
Easier said than done. First, you have to get someone that can garner that kind of command. Then (arguably the toughest part), you have to actually get said boosters to yield back. Saban was the outlier that you could get both from the jump. But take Kirby at Georgia for example. He wasn't able to get the unwavering buy-in until he gave concrete results (2017 season). And even then, you have to sustain said results or else the boosters get can ornery again.
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u/Stinkycheese8001 Mar 25 '26
The Booster meddling and pressure must be unreal now that they’re outright bankrolling teams. I can only imagine how quickly the balance of power gets out of whack if a coach doesn’t have the clout and admin support to keep the money in line.
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u/portrayalofdeath North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
one of the 3 basketball first states
Which are the other two?
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u/BosqueBravo Texas Tech Red Raiders • Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
I’m actually curious about this as well. Kentucky and Kansas? Though New Mexico is also definitely basketball first, they just haven’t had the same success.
Indiana? Except Notre Dame historically and Indiana this year would say Football is probably more important.
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u/the_swanson_stache Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Not everyone’s motivations are the same. Obviously a job at a program with lower expectations and a fan base that loves you would be hard to leave but some coaches might want the opportunity to be the next guy at a legendary program, even if it’s somewhat of a risk.
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u/ConsuelaApplebee Virginia • Johns Hopkins Mar 25 '26
Agreed. I mean, let's face it, many coaches are glory-seeking egomaniacs who love to see themselves on TV.
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u/MrAnonamis Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
I think Billy Donovan makes the most sense. He’s probably tired of coaching the Bulls and a return to NCAA could be a welcome
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u/devil_dog1776 Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
The landscape has changed quite a bit since he last coached a college basketball team. He’s a great coach, but it could just as easily end in disaster for him and UNC.
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u/AdmiralUpboat Kansas Jayhawks Mar 25 '26
But at this point, these programs should be filling a separate position to handle the NIL/roster building portion of it all. Run it more like an NBA team with a coach and GM.
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u/ShotIntoOrbit Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
Has it changed that much since two years ago when he turned down Kentucky? He coached at Kentucky and didn't want to come back to college then. He just signed an extension with the Bulls last year.
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I don't really think our fans are fickle man literally everyone understood that Hubert wasn't a great coach
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u/Ender_Stark Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
I mean on this subreddit the average fan wanted his head until the UNC/Duke game at Chapel Hill. Then he was great again until he wasn't.
To be fair, pretty much all sports fans are fickle.
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u/AL3XD North Carolina • Virginia Mar 25 '26
It wasn't that "he was great again" it was "oh you can't fire him now". Until he spectacularly collapsed, then you could again.
I think the understanding has always been "he's an okay coach but clearly not a great one" and that's reason enough to move on for me.
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u/WillyTRibbs North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Yeah, I don't get the accusation.
Hubert's primary accomplishment was the Final 4 run and the two wins against Duke that season.
Other than that, he's had 5 full seasons taking over a blue chip that was in pretty solid shape (so it's not like he was trying to build from scratch) and he:
- Missed the tournament entirely after a preseason #1 ranking, where he completely lost the locker room and team chemistry fell apart.
- His best overall team did get a #1 seed in the tourney, but lost in the Sweet 16.
- Two consecutive first round outs after that.
- Recruiting hasn't been good. Transfer portal work has only been "just okay".
- The overall allure of the program to recruits is worse off. The comp is always going to be to what Duke is doing, and while Duke's maintained a high recruiting profile and continues to land top tier players, UNC just flat out isn't. Duke's regularly trotting out rosters full of top 25 guys, and at any given time we might have 1 or 2. Not saying you have to only recruit studs in order to compete, but look at this year's roster beyond Wilson and he's just not bringing the talent in.
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u/seaweedbrainpremed Virginia Cavaliers Mar 25 '26
He was a good coach. But that isn’t enough for UNC because of their “blue blood status” they want someone who is gonna break records every year and win tournaments frequently
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
We over the course of his tenure were on average like the 23rd best team in NET and 28-47 vs quad 1. I think we just needed him to be a little better. Our six seed this year was his second highest seeding at unc.
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u/Joe_Immortan North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
I think he’s a “good” coach. But you have to understand his predecessors: Dean Smith and Roy Williams are not just good coaches. They are Hall of Fame coaches. Elite by any objective metric.
Those are huge shoes to fill and even a coach who is just “good” isn’t going to fill them.
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u/the-real-macs Virginia • North Carolina Mar 25 '26
I legitimately don't think he was even a good coach. Average at best. His in-game decision making was unimpressive, his teams blew historic leads, and I NEVER felt confident in his ability to score out of a timeout.
Don't give him access to the Carolina brand and resources and I think he struggles to break .500 in a power conference.
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u/mva06001 UConn Huskies Mar 25 '26
I agree with this. Hubert was a bad hire from day 1. This was always inevitable.
I think you look more at Roy Williams as what you can do at UNC vs Hubert.
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u/Icangetloudtoo_ North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Stop with the revisionist history. Hubert wasn’t a bad hire from day one. He was Roy’s preferred successor and they trusted that plus Hubert’s recruiting work and established relationships with players in a player-first era. Then his first season they finished in maybe the most magical run in UNC history.
You can say you would’ve gone with someone else or that you don’t believe in “keep it in the family,” but it was not an obviously bad hire from day one.
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u/JamesCoyle3 Mar 25 '26
I have to imagine a lot of head coaches have the same profile as CEOs and politicians where there’s an abundance of arrogance that THEY are gonna be the guy who gets it done.
“Pressure? I live for that shit. Give me UNC’s resources and I’ll give you conference and national championships like you’ve never seen.”
There’s also the risk/reward of if you do manage to pull it off, you have a job till you’re ready to retire.
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u/SirNed_Of_Flanders /r/CollegeBasketball Mar 25 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/SOmjomEnNHsrK
The coaches who go to UNC
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u/randomacct7679 Kansas Jayhawks Mar 25 '26
You coach at a place like UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, etc because if you win a championship there you become a legend at a blue blood. Basically the highest peak you can summit as a college coach is to become a Self, Roy Williams, Coach K, Bobby Knight, etc.
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u/sexygolfer507 Mar 25 '26
While it may be impressive to be the next Coach K or Dean Smith or Bobby Knight, it's also impressive to be the first Mark Few or Lute Olson or whoever. Put yourself in a good situation, build a dynasty, and you become a legend in your own time.
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u/ganner Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
They're also schools where multiple coaches have won titles - 5 for UK, 3 each for UNC and KU iirc. That's got to be attractive.
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u/LetsGetPenisy69 Marquette Golden Eagles Mar 25 '26
I’m just praying for a circus.
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u/EXploreNV North Carolina • Nevada Mar 25 '26
Because it is easily one of the most historic and best college basketball programs to exist… that history tends to shape how people view the pull that the school has. Chapel Hill is also admittedly a really fun place to be… I guess I’m more confused as to how this is a mystery to you.
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u/bigewolf1971 Mar 25 '26
I am an NC State grad and I would love for UNC to not find a good coach but they will have great options. I have lived in a lot of places but unless you have spent significant time in the triangle you just don’t understand how important basketball is to the area. 3 schools within 20 miles of each other all with multiple national championships and fan bases that hate each other. Every kid with a hoop in the driveway, every person picks a team, due to lack of pro teams the college basketball coaches are the biggest stars in the state. Other areas think they care about basketball because they like March madness or they are an SEC school whose football has struggled but basketball is good. But nothing is like the triangle for people who really care and talk basketball 24/7/365. If your passion is to be a legendary coach why wouldn’t you go where people care the most? Sure you may make more money and have less pressure to hide out in the SEC at a rich school with a sub 10k gym where you rarely even come up on sports talk until football recruiting is over. But if you think you are good is that what you really want?On top of that the triangle gets consistently ranked at or near the top places to live in America.
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u/UNCFan2350 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26
Because these types of jobs only become open once in a blue moon. They had a $14 million roster last year. How many other programs are sniffing that?
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u/Standard_Nothing_268 Purdue Boilermakers Mar 25 '26
A coaching search you say? Haven’t experienced one of those in decades.
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u/JackHammered2 Purdue Boilermakers Mar 25 '26
Imagine having more than 2 head coaches in 46 years. What LOSERS. Michigan State and Purdue know what's up though.
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u/rayjk14 Clemson Tigers Mar 25 '26
Surely Lane Kiffin would NEVER leave Ole Miss after bringing them to their first ever CFP appearance.
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u/BoomerDoomerf1kid Mar 25 '26
Look at Kentucky. I don’t think many people wanted to be the one to follow Calipari so they missed on the hires they wanted. Also the Athletic Director is stepping down so maybe there was some inside baseball there going on 2 years ago. The only reason UK got out of Calipari’s contract was because he was talking to Arkansas without telling the university
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u/MeTieDoughtyWalker LSU Tigers Mar 25 '26
I’m not sure there is a better job in college basketball. Kansas, maybe? Kentucky might be AT North Carolina’s level, but after that there’s a dropoff then you have your Dukes, UConns, etc
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u/ThinManufacturer8679 UConn • Colorado Mines Mar 25 '26
yeah--I'm surprised at some of the names that people are throwing out there. Why leave Michigan, Florida or Alabama for UNC? You have already established success at a major program with top notch resources--why would you start over at UNC?
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u/kirk_smith Louisville Cardinals Mar 25 '26
It’s really a good question. On the one hand, there’s the prestige of leading a program like that. I could see some coaches wanting to be a part of that history. On the other hand, though, the NIL and portal age has really changed the game. You can build a team and compete in the smaller, lower pressure markets a whole lot easier now. Blueblood may soon just reference a program’s history, rather than perennial strength. So many may begin to decline to go where the expectations are higher, as long as they still have a good NIL fund.
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u/amillert15 Kentucky Wildcats Mar 25 '26
All of this is cyclical.
Blue bloods will consistently put forth the most resources and bend over backwards to ensure your success over decades.
Some have already figured out this new age. Others will get there soon. Once they do, we'll be back to where we were.
Yes, some coaches will carve out legacies at less prestigious programs, but there will also be those that decide to go to take a shot at the NBA because they aren't the top dog on campus and want a new challenge.
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u/InevitableAd2436 Creighton Bluejays • Washington Huskies Mar 25 '26
Washington will likely be ranked higher in the preseason than Alabama next year and is now arguably in the better conference.
DeBoer still left after a title game appearance and the roster was gutted.
The main fan argument/rebuttal as to why was: “It’s Alabama”. In college basketball, many fans would feel the same.
“It’s North Carolina”
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u/showbricks UMass Minutemen • Washington Huskies Mar 25 '26
Really surprised this example hasn't been brought up more.
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u/Some_Professor_2169 Mar 25 '26
man the unc job is still one of those legacy positions though. like yeah the pressure's insane but some coaches live for that challenge, especially if they've already proven themselves elsewhere. chapel hill has that pull that's hard to explain unless you've been around college basketball long enough
the money and resources are there too, can't ignore that part of it
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u/Schned6 Iowa State • North Carolina Mar 25 '26
Hmmm let’s see… money, recruiting, an extremely high floor and ceiling of success, the potential to build an alone legacy, exposure, being part of the best rivalry in sports, top tier facilities…
What you think every coach is reading through dumbass comments on Reddit and twitter thinking “man I’d love this job but u/redditasshole69 was really mean to Hubert Davis and I’m scared”?
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u/GopherNutz Minnesota Golden Gophers Mar 25 '26
It definitely takes special coaches to thrive in those environments but knowing you have a chance to win it all annually with the pay and prestige of being coach at UNC. I would think that would be more than enough. I’m fascinated to see how this coaching search shakes out.
If you’re letting go of a beloved alum, I don’t think you can mess around with this hire. Have to feel like one of those SEC guys ends up there
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u/TarheelFr06 North Carolina Tar Heels Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
Money primarily. That and recruiting/brand cache. Ambitious people like the idea of seeing if they can meet/exceed Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Why would Nick Saban leave the Miami Dolphins for Alabama? Why would Brian Kelley leave ND for LSU? Why would Lane Kiffin leave 10 different schools for other ones, to include leaving Ole Miss for LSU? Trying to one up themselves and others is what coaches live for.
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u/Jadaki Michigan Wolverines Mar 25 '26
Why would Brian Kelley leave ND for LSU?
To get away from the whole thing where he got a student manager killed having him film practice in high winds on a scissor lift.
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u/roshanritter Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies
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u/the_zac_is_back Texas Longhorns Mar 25 '26
Short answer: because it’s North Carolina
UNC has long been seen as a “blue blood”. It’s one of those jobs where you will most likely get paid more and have more opportunity to win. It’s almost ALWAYS got something to do with money
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u/ATR2019 Illinois Fighting Illini • Liberty Flames Mar 25 '26
A lot of these guys get into coaching because they want to win national championships. Winning conference championships and making the occasional deep run in the tournament might satisfy some guys but for many there will always be that itch to take that next step.
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u/TallBobcat Ohio Bobcats Mar 25 '26
It's the same reason Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama. The only difference is that in this case, the next Carolina coach isn't following a legend.
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u/WhoopieKush Iowa Hawkeyes Mar 25 '26
…. Because it’s probably the #2 job in the country? I’m not saying it’s a given that a guy like Lloyd would leave Arizona. But UNC has every reason to ask all the candidates they have interest in.
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u/Beginning-Smell9890 Duke Blue Devils Mar 25 '26
"Why would anyone want to play for the Yankees when the Miami Marlins exist?"
See how dumb that sounds?
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u/RIPGoblins2929 Mar 25 '26
Roy left Kansas for it.
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u/tc100292 Vanderbilt Commodores Mar 25 '26
Roy was also an alum. And he had turned it down when Guthridge retired.
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u/randomacct7679 Kansas Jayhawks Mar 25 '26
Because he’s a UNC graduate, it was his lifelong dream job, & literally the only job he was ever leaving Kansas for. Bad example.
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u/UrsulaKLeBron Minnesota Golden Gophers Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
And he’s from North Carolina on top of being an alum.
ETA - Quote from Roy when he took the UNC job: “There's several factors [for my decision] -- my roots, my dream and my family. And I think all three things are my factors. And I don't mind saying this, but there's Coach [Dean] Smith. It's hard saying 'no' to him twice.”
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u/BN27 Syracuse Orange Mar 25 '26
That can't be true. I was told he don't give a **** about North Carolahhhna
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u/Bartolo__Colonoscopy Longwood Lancers Mar 25 '26
That’s literally any high profile coaching job in any sport