After an early exit in March Madness, North Carolina decided to fire Hubert Davis. This led to speculation about who would replace him at North Carolina.
Now, Stephen A. Smith is making clear who he wants to see at North Carolina as the new head coach, speaking about the job on First Take.
“You hire Kenny Smith. The man is brilliant at the game of basketball. He’s brilliant at basketball, he’s a savant in that regard. But most importantly, I believe Kenny Smith can recruit,” the ESPN analyst said. “He's very very connected to youth basketball throughout this country. A lot of athletes know him not just because of how popular he is on television, but because of the summer camps that he runs and the summer camps that he's a part of. He's connected very much so to that world. And I believe that he will compete with Scheyer in recruiting.”
Kenny Smith played at North Carolina from 1983-87, before being selected in the first round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. After retiring from the NBA, he went into the studio with Turner Sports.
“It's not about X's and O's when it comes to a lot of these college coaches because a lot of them are even kill. It's about whether or not you can walk into a living room and convince a kid to come play for your program. I believe that Kenny the Jet Smith is that dude,” Smith concluded.
While hiring a guy who can recruit and has experience in the studio could be attractive, Kenny Smith has no experience in coaching at the college level. Further, North Carolina just tried out hiring a former player as the head coach, as Hubert Davis is a former Tar Heel.
Regardless of who North Carolina hires as the head coach, Stephen A. Smith has made his opinion known.
