North Carolina basketball seemed to be headed for great things this season after a February win over Duke, but things only went downhill for the Tar Heels. An injury to star forward Caleb Wilson derailed North Carolina's title hopes, and its season ended suddenly with an overtime loss to VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After another disappointing finish in the postseason, North Carolina elected to move on from Hubert Davis as head coach and try to land a big fish on the open market. The Tar Heels were initially targeting Arizona's Tommy Lloyd and Michigan's Dusty May, but both coaches pulled out of the search over the weekend after leading their teams to the Final Four.
Now, North Carolina is looking in another direction. Chicago Bulls had coach Billy Donovan has become the main focus of UNC's coaching search, according to Jeff Goodman of Field of 68.
“North Carolina is now solely focusing its efforts on Billy Donovan,” Goodman reported. “They're going to go hard after him, per sources. They expect to know more in the next 24 hours.”
Donovan has been coaching in the NBA since 2015 and has spent time with both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Bulls. However, he is still one of the most successful college basketball coaches of this century. He made three Final Fours during nearly two decades with the Gators, including back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.
Davis got North Carolina to the Final Four back in 2022 during his first season as the head coach, but he has failed to get the Tar Heels back to the Elite Eight since then.
Lloyd was initially viewed as the top choice in Chapel Hill, but he withdrew his name from the search and signed a new contract with Arizona on Friday. May also withdrew after beating Lloyd and Arizona on Sunday, leaving the Tar Heels where they are at now. Donovan still has a week left in the season with the Bulls, and then he may be headed to UNC.
ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel reported on Friday that Donovan is considering leaving the Bulls at the end of the regular season and that he would be at the top of North Carolina's list if Lloyd withdrew from the search.
