(04-06-2021 08:19 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 08:08 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 06:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  This is stupid. Hubert Davis was Roy Williams’ handpicked successor. End of story. Nothing to do with the color of the man’s skin.

esayem, I have a bridge in New York you might be interested in owning.

I think 5 years ago Hubert Davis would have been a top candidate, a finalist, for the UNC job. I don't necessarily think he should have been or be, I have always thought the best approach for an elite program is to find a coach with a proven track record as a head coach at the same level - make bids on Gonzaga's coach, Villanova's coach, stuff like that. But the UNC way has been to look in-house, and Davis's in-house credentials are impeccable - played for Dean Smith, coached under Roy Williams.

That said, I do think Davis was helped, perhaps boosted over the finish line, by recent developments - the BLM movement that has shined a spotlight on providing African-Americans with more opportunities, and the recent trend, with some prominent success stories** like Michigan and Memphis, of hiring ex-NBA players as college head coaches at big time programs.





** Sadly, my Georgetown has not been a success story.

Some good points, Quo. There are some college basketball programs that lend themselves to being well suited for a Black head coach. Memphis is clearly one (the Tiger program as had five coaches of color).

North Carolina offers a rather robust African-American fan base (unlike, say, Kentucky and Kansas). The time was right for UNC to hire its first Black head coach.

Having said that, and with all due respect to Hubert Davis, I would have preferred Carolina hire Stevens, Few, Donovan or Wright.