UNC's Top Targets to Replace Hubert Davis as HC After Historic Loss to VCU in 2026 NCAA Tournament

Hubert Davis is out as North Carolina's head coach following the No. 6-seeded Tar Heels' upset loss to No. 11 VCU in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina will not retain Davis, ending his five-year run at the helm, the school announced on Tuesday.

The Tar Heels will look to make a splash with their next hire, and ESPN's Jeff Borzello reported Tuesday that "Industry sources still consider Carolina to be the same elite, blue-blood destination it was when Davis took the helm in 2021."

"I think there's plenty of money if they want," one source told Borzello. "The history, the tradition, the facilities. No doubt it's still [at the top]. It's North Carolina."

"It's still Carolina, man," another told Borzello. "It's the brand."

UNC is expected "to take some massive swings" in its head coaching search, per Borzello, who lists Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan and former Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens as potential candidates.

Donovan, according to Borzello, "is expected to be at or near the top of the list."

That being said, here are a few options among the college ranks:

• Nate Oats, Alabama HC
• T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State HC
• Jay Wright, retired HC

Few teams have risen to relevance quicker than Alabama under Nate Oats. The Crimson Tide had made the tournament just two times in the 13 years prior to Oats' arrival, and they've since been to the Big Dance in all but one of his seven seasons at the helm.

Alabama reached the Final Four in 2024 under Oats, its only trip to the tournament semifinal in program history.

Oats, 51, is a coach on the rise, but a school like Alabama might not be the place to take the next step of competing for a championship. After all, Tuscaloosa is and will remain football country, so any extra NIL resources will be going to Kalen DeBoer's team.

T.J. Otzelberger, the former head coach of South Dakota State and UNLV, took over in Ames in 2021, inheriting a program in need of a complete turnaround. He was able to fix things pretty much overnight, as Iowa State went from losing 22 games in 2020-21 to winning 22 games in 2021-22 on its way to the Sweet 16.

Otzelberger has turned the Cyclones into a perennial contender, so it's easy to think he could find success at a program as prestigious as North Carolina.

Jay Wright said no to the New York Knicks last summer, but would he come out of retirement to take over at one of the most prestigious college basketball programs? It's reasonable to think so.

Wright's resume speaks for itself—he led Villanova to a pair of national championships—and he certainly fits the mold for a North Carolina head coach. Whether the Tar Heels can convince him to come out of retirement might be the only barrier keeping him from taking over in Chapel Hill.