UNC's divorce from Hubert Davis opens door for Tar Heels to regain deserved relevance

At the end of the day, the decision for North Carolina was simple: Was Hubert Davis a good enough coach to take the Tar Heels’ basketball program where it needed to go?

For all the talk about family, loyalty and the complexities of handling things the insular Carolina Way, the end was straightforward. After five seasons, enough data was in. On Tuesday night, a straightforward press release confirmed the reality that was apparent within 24 hours of the Tar Heels’ first-round NCAA tournament loss to VCU.

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It was over.

But as North Carolina enters its first real basketball coaching search of the modern era —  every hire since Dean Smith took over in 1961 had a direct connection to his program — it is not doing so capriciously or without strategy.

In fact, sources told Yahoo Sports, North Carolina representatives have been quietly checking in around potential candidates for nearly a month to gauge what the market would look like and who might be on a realistic list. In other words, North Carolina’s leadership is not making an emotional decision and hoping for the best. Its administration believes, as it should, that it can and will land an A-list candidate for arguably the best job in the sport.

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Is that Billy Donovan, whose tenure with the Chicago Bulls seems to be at a crossroads?

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Is it Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd or Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger, who have established monster programs that are rolling into the Sweet 16 this week?

Is North Carolina ready to depart from its wine-and-cheese reputation and welcome someone like Nate Oats or Todd Golden, who have won big at Alabama and Florida but carry reputational scuff marks?

The answer will come into focus in the coming days and weeks, but all of those names and more belong on the board because this isn’t your average coaching job.

As much as college basketball has changed with NIL and the transfer portal, North Carolina’s place in the hierarchy has not.

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North Carolina is not without its issues. There was plenty of internal strife and drama around the decision to hire Bill Belichick as head football coach, which so far hasn’t worked as expected. There’s an ongoing battle royale among the school’s stakeholders over the future of the Dean Dome, a 40-year-old arena that is out of date and should probably be replaced. The athletic director dance — veteran college administrator Bubba Cunningham is on his way out, former NASCAR executive Steve Newmark on his way in — is a little messy. And Duke, the rival down the road, has set a high bar that any North Carolina coach will have to reach.

But at the end of the day, coaches and agents — most of whom are from the generation that grew up with the mystique of North Carolina and Michael Jordan — believe all those issues are secondary to the tradition, the passion, the resources and the brand.

This is still one of the top jobs in the country. A job where you can win a national championship. Maybe the top job.

And North Carolina isn’t bumbling its way into a decision it will come to regret when it has to settle for a B-lister.

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North Carolina is doing exactly what it should do: Pulling the plug on a coach who wasn’t good enough for the standard it expects and going into the marketplace to see who’s interested.

The answer Carolina is likely to find? Almost everyone.