North Carolina will promote assistant coach Hubert Davis to head coach. Davis was an assistant coach under Roy Williams for nine years, and he will become the first black head coach in North Carolina history. Davis is honored to become the Tar Heels’ next coach.
“I am honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to lead this program,” Davis said in a statement released by the school. “I would not be here without Coach Dean Smith, Coach Bill Guthridge and Coach Roy Williams; they taught me so much — and I’m eager to walk their path in my shoes and with my personality. I also would not be here without Chancellor [Kevin] Guskiewicz and Bubba Cunningham. I appreciate their faith in me and I look forward to working closely with them.”
Williams retired last week after 18 seasons at North Carolina. He coached for 33 seasons and won three national championships as coach of the Tar Heels. Williams won 903 games and is the only coach in history to win 400 games with two schools.
Hubert Davis North Carolina
Hubert Davis played for North Carolina from 1988 to 1992 under then-coach Dean Smith. Also, Hubert’s uncle Walter Davis played for the Tar Heels from 1973 to 1977. While at North Carolina, Hubert could shoot the three well. In four years as a Tar Heel, Davis made 197 out of 453 three-point shots, which is good for 43 percent.
Davis went on to play 12 NBA seasons for six teams; he played for the New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, and the New Jersey Nets. For his carer, Davis averaged 8.2 points per game and shot 43 percent from the field.
Davis first came to North Carolina as an assistant coach in 2012; he served as the lead recruiter on current UNC players such as R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot.
North Carolina Bubba Cunningham wanted to hire somebody within the Tar Heel family. “Hubert Davis is the best leader we can possibly have for our men’s basketball program,” Cunningham said. “He teaches student-athletes on and off the court, he inspires his fellow staff members, he is strongly committed to family. He has a tenacious, burning desire to be the best he can possibly be; we witnessed that when he was a player, a broadcaster, and an assistant coach — and I have no doubt he will ensure … our student-athletes and program will be the best they can be, as well.”
2020-2021 Season
North Carolina finished the season 18-11 and lost to Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It will be up to Davis to get the Tar Heels program back on track and winning games. Davis spent a lot of time around college basketball; before coaching, he spent time with ESPN as a college basketball analyst.
The former NBA player is happy to be the head coach of the college he played for, “I love this university. I played here, I earned my degree here, I fell in love with my wife here, I got married here, I moved here after I retired from the NBA, and I have raised my family here,” Davis said. “I am proud to lead this team, and I can’t wait for all that comes next.”
It will be interesting to see what Davis can do with North Carolina. He has been around the program for nine years, so he knows the ins and outs. Davis was the lead recruiter, so he knows the talent that is coming in next year. Now he has to install what he wants to do on the offensive and defensive ends. It should be a fun season next for North Carolina.
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