Coaches UNC Could Target if Hubert Davis Is Fired

The Hubert Davis situation is heating up, and all signs point to a parting of ways between the five-year head coach and the university. In Davis’s five-year run, he led the Tar Heels to a national championship, a regular-season ACC championship, a No. 1 seed, and a 125-52 record.

On the other hand, Davis also led Carolina to be the first team in history to be named the preseason number one overall team and miss the tournament the same year. Last season, the Tar Heels barely made the field as an 11-seed and, most recently, a 6-seed with back-to-back first-round exits, sparking the discussion of a breakup.

Before any decision can be made on whether or not the university would fire Hubert Davis, they must analyze who would take his place and if there are any candidates worth firing Davis for.

With North Carolina being one of the most premier head coaching gigs in the country, and possibly the sport, there are certainly quite a handful of coaches that would at least be interested in the opportunity.

Normally, the rule has been that North Carolina stays within the “family,” and any future head coaches would land within the Dean Smith coaching tree. However, when looking at the potential candidates within the “family”, Hubert Davis may just be the best option out of the bunch. This may force Carolina to finally seek answers outside, and if they did, who would they shoot for?

Jay Wright

It would take a premier job to get Jay Wright to come out of retirement, and the head coach for North Carolina may be the job that convinces him to come back to basketball.

Jay Wright hasn’t coached since he retired in 2022, but he is far and away the most experienced and successful coach of the potential candidates. Wright led the Villanova Wildcats to two National Championships. Ironically, one of the pair was in 2016, defeating North Carolina at the buzzer with Kris Jenkins' iconic shot.

It would be a travesty if Jay Wright weren’t at least one of the first people called if Hubert Davis and Carolina do, in fact, part ways. Carolina has to at least take a swing at one of the best coaches in college basketball history.

Nate Oats

One of the more popular names floating around is Alabama head coach Nate Oats, and his resume speaks for itself. Oats has led Alabama to be a pretty consistently successful team in the SEC with a 169-72 record while coaching Alabama.

Along with a .701 win percentage, Oats has led the Crimson Tide to 2 regular season SEC championships, 2 SEC tournament championships, and a Final Four in 2024.

Oats lives by the three and dies by the three, and maybe a fast-paced, all-out offensive blitz is the kind of change Carolina needs. Oats has also been successful as a recruiter, with Alabama sitting at the 10th overall spot in the 2026 recruiting rankings by 247Sports.

While it’s uncertain if Oats would leave Alabama, it would be a successful hire for Carolina if they were able to land him.

Grant McCasland

It’s a long shot, but McCasland wins everywhere he goes. The former Baylor guard has led North Texas and Texas Tech to highly successful seasons, posting a 135-65 record at North Texas and a 74-30 record at Texas Tech. McCasland has done an excellent job at turning Texas Tech into a major contender in the Big 12 in each of his three seasons with the team.

While it seems like McCasland is locked into Texas Tech and a move for him is highly unlikely, Carolina has to start at the top and make the best candidates say no.

Mark Byington

As a University of North Carolina Wilmington alum, Mark Byington has the most connection to the state of North Carolina and would be an excellent hire as head coach. With 13 years of head coaching experience at the Division 1 level, Byington could be an excellent hire for Chapel Hill.

Byington has done a phenomenal job at making Vanderbilt basketball a power and top contender in the SEC in his two seasons as head coach. Perhaps Byington is interested in moving back to the state, and for the right job, I think he would be the one who is most likely to accept if given the opportunity.

Some other names that cross the mind when thinking about potential calls Carolina should make: Dusty May, Todd Golden, T.J. Otzelberger, and Tommy Lloyd.

Whether or not any of these guys would accept the job if given the chance is highly uncertain and probably highly unlikely for many of them. Although if Carolina wants to hit a home run, they're going to have to at least swing.