CHAPEL HILL — When he first arrived, the faithful wondered if he would be as good as his uncle Walter.
Hubert Davis as a youngster dreamed of making it through Carolina basketball camps and some day into a uniform. Monday he went a step further, breaking the racial barrier of Carolina hiring a black head coach for its most visible athletics program.
With the most important hire of his decade-old tenure, Bubba Cunningham called Hubert Davis “the best leader we can possibly have for our men’s basketball program.” The athletics director made the announcement along with Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz in a Monday afternoon news release following a vote of the university Board of Trustees just hours before the national championship game.
An introductory press conference is Tuesday.
“I love this university,” Davis said. “I played here, I earned my degree here, I fell in love with my wife here, I got married here, I moved here after I retired from the NBA and I have raised my family here. I am proud to lead this team, and I can’t wait for all that comes next.”
Not only is Davis breaking a color barrier, he also becomes the first head coach with an NBA playing career for a university that counted 22 first-round picks in the NBA in Roy Williams’ 18 seasons. Williams announced his retirement on Thursday.
“I am honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to lead this program,’’ Davis said. “I would not be here without Coach Dean Smith, Coach Bill Guthridge and Coach Roy Williams; they taught me so much — and I’m eager to walk their path in my shoes and with my personality.”
Williams raised eyebrows, albeit in a good way, when he brought Davis onto his staff nine seasons ago. He had been with ESPN as an analyst for seven seasons following a 12-year NBA career. Davis learned much the same way Williams did more than a quarter century ago — leading the junior varsity program.
In a tweet, N.C. Central head coach LeVelle Moton wrote, “Happy for my brother Hubert Davis. So many ppl don’t understand that UNC isn’t a Bball program, it’s a 5th generation family. Hubert is the connector bc he played for Coach Smith and coached with Roy. He’ll do well.”
Jay Bilas, who played at Duke and worked alongside Davis at ESPN, tweeted, “I had the honor to work alongside Hubert for many years at ESPN, and I simply don’t know a better person. Don’t let the smile and laugh fool you, Hubert is a cutthroat competitor with an uncommon understanding of the game. And, he bleeds Carolina Blue. Hubert is the real deal.”
Carolina was 102-37 in Davis’ four years from 1988-92, reaching the 1991 Final Four and winning the 1989 and 1991 ACC tournaments. He scored 1,615 points and still holds the school 3-point shooting record of 43.5 percent.
Davis scored 25 points in the 1991 Final Four game against Williams’ Jayhawks.
His uncle, Walter Davis, led the Tar Heels from 1973-77 under Smith and is famously known for a bank shot to force overtime against Duke in Carmichael Auditorium when Carolina scored eight points in the final 17 seconds of regulation in the days of no 3-pointer. The Heels won that March 2, 1974 game 96-92 in overtime.
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