When Hubert Davis first got hired, it felt like the perfect match for the North Carolina Tar Heels.
He was a former player, had high marks from the alumni and boosters, and did what you need to do to make a name for yourself at a blueblood program: win early and often.
In his first season as the successor to Roy Williams, Davis’ Tar Heels not only went to the Final Four but defeated Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke Blue Devils in the semifinals.
No, the Tar Heels did not win it all, falling to the Kansas Jayhawks in the finale, but it didn’t matter. He had slain Coach K, doused the Blue Devils, and planted a flag that this would be a new era of dominance for Tar Heels basketball.
Except it wasn’t.
He won over 20 games in every season he coached, but never got back to the heights of his first season, when he almost walked the golden road.
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While Duke has reloaded and are back marching towards a national title after almost winning in 2025, North Carolina is stuck as an above-average but not an elite team. For most schools, that would be a dream, but the University of North Carolina isn’t most schools.
Former Tar Heels player and current Rams Club board member Dewey Burke discussed why Davis was fired in the most recent podcast episode of “Insider Carolina” this week.
“The number one reason is simple,” he said. “Simply, we didn’t win at the level we believe we should. I don’t know who could argue that. Losing in the first round in consecutive years isn’t good enough for the standard. The standard is the standard. … This is a business of winning.”
Burke’s words assuredly echo the boosters and the rest of the alumni who still work with the school, as they have to watch Duke, under new head coach Jon Scheyer, make its way through the tournament as the top-seeded squad.
Be it with a young coach like Duke has with Scheyer or with an experienced coach elsewhere, it doesn’t matter to the Tar Heels.
The standard is the standard.
Alumni, close friends, or bleed Tar Heel blue all they want, if they can’t win games as the head coach of the North Carolina basketball team, they won’t last long in Chapel Hill.
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