In the spring of 1953, America was moving on from a lot of things. The end of World War II wasn’t even a decade in the rear view mirror, the Korean War was still going on and wasn’t officially ended until that summer, and the country had just sworn in Dwight Eisenhower as President. Brown v Board of Education was still a year in the future, and so the South was still segregated including UNC who had yet to win an NCAA title in basketball. Carolina still played their basketball games in Woolen Gym
That spring, a coach from Saint John’s and originally from New York City in Frank McGuire would be hired by UNC to coach basketball,. While no one knew it in the time, the way people thought about the Tar Heels would forever change.
That is 73 years. One through line of coaches from 1953 to 2026. The coaching line for that eight decades was only Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Roy Williams, and Hubert Davis, and all connected to that first hire. Smith was McGuire’s assistant, Guthridge was Smith’s, Doherty was a player under Smith and an assistant under Williams, Williams an assistant under Smith, and Davis a player for Smith and an assistant under Williams.
That line produced six NCAA titles, twenty Final Four appearances, an NIT title when that tournament meant something, eighteen ACC Tournament Championships, and on and on and on. In the history of college sports, it is impossible to find one line of coaching success that has produced that much over that length of time. The least successful of the bunch—Matt Doherty—still finished his first season with a regular season ACC title and recruited the class that would get Roy Williams his first title in 2005.
Now, it’s done. At least for now.
Whatever your thoughts of Hubert Davis—and since his hiring back in 2021 there have been more pixels posted reflecting various thoughts of him than any other UNC coach—it cannot be denied that he is a good man, and that there was a sincere hope that he could be the “next” person. Davis, unlike Doherty, has a Final Four to his name, achieved a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament, and has arguably the two biggest wins of any coach in the line with the dual shocking wins of Duke in that 2022 season. He bought a ton of good will with that, along with his famous “Live Action” comment in the title game.
That title game, though, is the one where looking back—things began to sour and perhaps Davis became a victim of this line’s success. While beating Duke twice the way they did was amazing, they also surrendered the biggest lead in a title game ever, and it began a series of events where you would keep saying “if only this happened.”
“If only Armando Baccot hadn’t rolled his ankle.”
“If only that last shot had gone in.”
“If only Pete Nance had the same skill as Brady Manek.”
“If only Withers hadn’t taken that ridiculous shot near the end of the game.”
“If only Caleb Wilson hadn’t gotten injured.”
At some point you stop looking at the “if only’s” and can’t keep excusing them when they aren’t followed by titles. Dean Smith and Roy Williams each had some pretty big “if only’s” but they also had national titles and NBA stars to back them up. They also coached in an era where the coach is king, transfers were ridiculously rare and carried a one-year penalty when they happened, any payment happened under the table, and for the large majority of their time basketball was king.
Hubert Davis’ firing reflects the fact that this era that Carolina played a major part in is now fully over. Since that 2017 national title the Tar Heels have only been to the Sweet 16 three times, made one Final Four, and if you count 2020—and look, you should cause the Tar Heels weren’t making an NCAA Tournament that year—they almost have as many NCAA Tournament misses than Sweet 16 appearances. From that time to now, the 0ne-and-done has shifted to Name, Image, and Likeness, to actual revenue sharing complete with General Managers and a transfer portal that makes teams completely different year-over-year.
At some point the fan base for Carolina had to decide which way they wanted to go. To continue to play in the upper echelons of college basketball, all you have to do is look at the teams that are succeeding and understand that the game has evolved past the mindset of that coaching line. You just can’t recruit solid players, have the whole team stay for multiple years, and then see them evolve from a fringe-tournament team to a title winner. Even if you decide to go that route, you risk being raided by other schools that are looking for the best free agents and promising them more time. Either way it costs a lot of actual money.
It’s not the job Hubert Davis signed up for, but he clearly felt like he could continue to evolve into it. There were signs this year he was; while he did so kicking and screaming he accepted a General Manager, still managed to get Carolina’s highest NBA Prospect in decades, and at the beginning of February had UNC look like a team that could go far. He was getting the successes that would excuse the “if only’s.”
Then VCU happened.
“If only someone called timeout before the five second call.”
“If only they made one more free throw.”
“If only Davis substituted more.”
Giving up yet another record comeback to a team just magnified all of the deficiencies that Hubert Davis wasn’t allowed to work through like Roy Williams and Dean Smith were for various reason. He didn’t help himself by refusing to accept responsibility for it later but also, didn’t throw any of the team under the bus for it.
In this era of college basketball, though, money is more important than ever, and enough people with enough money said that they weren’t going to keep giving what was needed to continue to fight at the levels fans were expecting. The administration faced a clear fact: Either let the era end now by having to fire the last thread, or let it end in an embarrassing car crash.
Now there’s no Roy Williams to come in and save the day. For the first time since that spring of 1953 someone in no way connected to the coaching lineage of Carolina will be hired to lead the Tar Heels as they embrace what college basketball has become.
In a lot of ways it’s needed.
And in a lot of ways it just sucks.
