2025-26 was a lost season for North Carolina basketball as soon as star forward Caleb Wilson went down with a hand injury, but the Tar Heels were still hoping for a better March Madness result than they got. In the first round on Thursday, North Carolina blew a 19-point lead against No. 11 seed VCU before an overtime loss ended its season.
Now, head coach Hubert Davis is paying the price for the defeat at the end of the disappointing season. Davis will not be returning as the head coach at North Carolina, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Davis went 125-54 as the head coach at UNC over the last five seasons, but he has failed to get the program back to a truly elite level on a consistent basis since reaching the 2022 national championship game.
That title game appearance came in Davis' first season with the program, but the Tar Heels missed out on the Big Dance in 2023. In 2024, Davis got North Carolina to an ACC regular season championship, but flamed out against Alabama in an epic Sweet 16 battle. In the last two years, North Carolina has been bounced out in the first round of the Big Dance.
Last season, Davis' contract was extended through 2030, and the Tar Heels will have a hefty buyout to pay now as they look for their next head coach.
The coaching cycle in college basketball has already been heating up. Arizona State recently hired Randy Bennett from St. Mary's to be its new head coach, and Cincinnati tabbed Jerrod Calhoun of Utah State to come to the Big 12 and lead the Bearcats back to relevance.
Of course, the North Carolina job is one of the best openings in the sport, and just about any coach will have to listen if the Tar Heels call. A crucial offseason awaits in Chapel Hill, so it will be fascinating to see who North Carolina goes with next to lead the program into the future.
