Could Vanderbilt Basketball Coach Mark Byington Be North Carolina's Next Coach? A Breakdown.
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NASHVILLE—Time for Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee to be on her toes.
North Carolina has parted ways with head coach Hubert Davis and is conducting a national search for its next head coach. A number of national reports have connected Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington to the job after Vanderbilt’s 27-win season that ended in the Round of 32 against Nebraska.
Byington is just two years into his Vanderbilt tenure and has architected a 47-22 start at Vanderbilt in which he’s effectively turned the program from an SEC bottom dweller to a title contender.
“Having spent time with him especially early on in the interview process, I was convinced that he would do a great job here,” Storey Lee told Vandy on SI over the summer. “I don't ever predict scores or wins, I don't ever do that, but I just knew I could tell by the way that he worked at how passionate he was and how he viewed the opportunity. I felt confident that he was going to do a good job.”
Will North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham see the same things Storey Lee saw a few springs ago?
Why it’s a conversation
Byington has positioned himself well enough to at least be in the conversation and, while it’s no slight to Vanderbilt, North Carolina is one of college basketball’s best jobs and would have to be a heavy consideration for Byington if he were offered it.
Vanderbilt’s turnaround under Byington is the latest in a line of them that he’s authored throughout his career as a head coach. Georgia Southern was in a similarly-dire situation as Vanderbilt when Byington took over for his first full-time head coaching gig. By the end of it, there was a perennial 20-game winner in Statesboro. James Madison wasn’t in quite as dire of a situation when Byington landed there, but it still required a rebuild of sorts and ended with the program eclipsing its record for wins in a season by the time Byington was done there.
The Vanderbilt coach also has regional ties to North Carolina as a result of his playing career at UNC Wilmington and while he he doesn’t have direct ties to the university within his body of work, he does have experience as an assistant in the ACC and was tied to the open Virginia job a year ago–although Virginia honed in on Ryan Odom quickly and likely wouldn’t have hired Byington due to his eight-figure buyout anyway.
Byington’s past complaints in regard to Vanderbilt’s crowd size and revenue sharing appeared on the surface to indicate that he was unhappy in the position, but in reality they were strategic public-facing moves that allowed him to get the support that he needed from the school. The moves have paid off as Memorial Gymnasium filled up down the stretch of the season and, as sources tell Vandy on SI, Byington’s program is expected to have an abundance of finances to operate when the transfer portal opens.
With that being said, Byington appears to be happy at Vanderbilt and wouldn’t leave for all that many college jobs. But, it’s never appeared on the surface as if Vanderbilt is a job that Byington has considered his end game. North Carolina is the type of job that could motivate him to make a move.
Byington would win at North Carolina, and it appears as if that’s the consensus around the country, even if there’s a greater consensus around other candidates’ ability to do so.
Why it doesn’t make sense
Even if Byington would be projected to get results at Carolina, the other names on the list are bigger—and, frankly, more accomplished.
Byington has historically been a prolific rebuilder, but he’s won just two games in the NCAA Tournament, hasn’t yet been to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament and has been to the tournament just three times in his 13-year head coaching career. Those numbers lack the context of the cruelty of one-bid leagues, but they come to light as differentiators when Byington’s name is on the list alongside former national champion and NBA coach Billy Donovan as well as Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd.
If Byington is going to land the North Carolina job, it would likely have to go down the line a few times–although that doesn’t appear to be all that unlikely. The indication is that Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger would be interested in the job, though, and he’s more accomplished than Byington is to this point.
A number of industry sources appear to believe Byington is a second-weekend appearance and another successful season away from earning his way into a job like North Carolina.
As for the fit in that job specifically, it would be Byington’s first experience in a fish bowl–although it’s not to the same level as Kentucky or Duke in that regard–and a place where he was tasked just as much with being a cultural ambassador as a basketball coach. Byington is affable and funny, which could allow those in Chapel Hill to gravitate towards his personality—even though he’s not a heavy marketer. Dealing with all the non-basketball duties that come with that job could be an adjustment.
Byington's style of play would be fun at North Carolina, but he’d be a hire that a number of Carolina people would be skeptical of considering the program’s history–whether that’s fair or not. Byington is rapidly ascending in the profession, but he’s in a pool that includes a number of college basketball heavyweights.
The elephant in the room here is also Byington’s buyout at Vanderbilt–which has been said to be around eight figures–which all but disqualified him from the Virginia and Indiana openings a season ago. North Carolina had to pay Hubert Davis over five million dollars as they parted ways. That would force Carolina to pay a king’s ransom before even hiring a coach, although it would likely have to do so with whatever candidate it would hire.
Will Byington get/take the job?
Never say never here, but it appears as if Byington may a tad too far down Carolina’s list to be the Tar Heels’ next head coach. It’s not a bad fit, but Carolina has a legitimate chance to land Billy Donovan and it appears to prefer Otzelberger–who would have to heavily consider taking the job–over Byington.
Byington has a good gig going at Vanderbilt and–assuming he stays–likely hasn’t had his best season in Nashville yet. He’d have to think long and hard about Carolina if he’s offered it, but he may be a cycle or two away from that.
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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