Hubert Davis is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater and his 12th season on the Tar Heel coaching staff
Davis, 53 (turns 54 on May 17, 2024), led the Tar Heels to the 2022 NCAA East Regional championship, a win over Duke in a historic Final Four matchup and a berth in the national championship game in his first season as a head coach. The 1992 graduate of the University of North Carolina received two National Coach-of-the-Year awards as UNC won 17 of its last 21 games and came within a few possessions of securing the program’s seventh NCAA Tournament title.
Last season Davis joined Ben Carnevale and Bill Guthridge as the only Tar Heel head coaches to win 20 or more games in each of their first two seasons. He has compiled a 49-23 record in two seasons, including 26-14 in regular-season ACC play.
Davis was named the 20th head coach of the UNC men’s basketball program on April 5, 2021. He became the fourth former Tar Heel player to become UNC’s head coach and the first Black head coach in Carolina men’s basketball history.
Davis played for Dean Smith at Carolina from 1988-92 and was an assistant coach on Roy Williams’ staff from 2012-21. He played a key role coaching, recruiting and scouting and was the head coach of the UNC junior varsity program for six seasons from 2013-19.
“I said (to Coach Davis) keep what’s good but don’t get stuck,” UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham told the media at the 2022 Final Four. “Change what needs to be changed to be modern and current. And I think that’s what Hubert brings — a current mentality to the historical tradition and success that we’ve had.”
Davis led the Tar Heels to a 29-10 record in his rookie season as head coach. UNC went 15-5 in the ACC to tie Notre Dame for second place, just a game out of first. The Tar Heels went 7-3 on the road in league play, including five straight victories at Clemson, Louisville, Virginia Tech, NC State and fourth-ranked Duke when UNC won 11 of 13 games to conclude the regular season.
The 29 wins were the second most by an individual in his first season as Carolina’s head coach and equaled the 10th most in NCAA history for a first-year head coach.
The Tar Heels closed the regular season scoring 55 second-half points in a 94-81 win at Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
UNC entered the 2022 NCAA Tournament as an eight seed but played some of its best basketball in winning the East Regional. The Tar Heels had 51 assists on 62 field goals and sank 24 three-pointers in the first- and second-round wins over Marquette and Baylor, when they crushed the Golden Eagles by 32 points and eliminated the defending NCAA champion Bears in overtime.
Carolina trailed UCLA with two minutes left in the Sweet 16 but went on an 8-0 run to beat the Bruins and overpowered Saint Peter’s, 69-49, in the regional final to send the Tar Heels to the Final Four for a record 21st time.
“I want every player that played for Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams, whether it’s in person, TV, highlights — I want them to be able to identify and go, ‘That’s the Carolina I went to,’” Davis said during the Final Four. “It’s really important for me that this program, with my own personality in my own shoes, looks exactly like the program that Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams ran.”
Davis became just the second individual to play for and serve as head coach of the same school in Final Four history; the fourth to take his team to the national championship game in his first season as a head coach; the seventh to play in and be a head coach in the Final Four; and the 10th to lead his team to the Final Four in his first season as a head coach.
The Tar Heels defeated Duke, 81-77, in the national semifinals, the first time the two great rivals ever played in the NCAA Tournament. The game featured a dozen ties and 18 lead changes, 13 of which came in the second half. Over the final 15:42, the margin for either team exceeded a single possession for a little more than just one minute. Carolina would score nine different times in the second half either to break a tie or reverse the lead, including field goals or free throws by all five Tar Heel starters.
“Hubert Davis may be the nicest person I know, and he’s the best father I’ve ever seen,” Jay Bilas said to the Washington Post in New Orleans. “He’s a perfect balance of cutthroat competitor and incredibly nice, thoughtful, empathetic person. He is an amazing person, and I’m not at all surprised knowing him that he is having this level of success this early.”
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