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Roy Williams retiring?

Time to break out my Hubert Davis stories...

We played in the same Little League. When I was 12 and he was 11, we both were on the All Star team. We won our first 3 games, then lost in the 6th inning when I was pitching and a ground ball went through his legs in center field.

Fast forward to high school. He went to the big public school and I went to the big private school. In the Northern Virginia high school summer league, we were both on the All Star team again, only this time, he absolutely DOMINATED the game. Scored at will. Best basketball player I have ever been on the same court with. Shitty centerfielder though.
 
A turnip could recruit decent players to UNC, and Roy wasn't that great of a bench coach. I thought Hubert was good on ESPN, and he'll relate well to players, their families, the fanbase & media. Williams' "ol' Roy ain't that good" shtick was wearing thin, and he loved to play that false modesty thing, but watch out if some reporter call-in fan to his radio show disagreed with him (i.e. agreed with his "I'm not that good/I need to coach these guys better" take).
Yes this is not a slam-dunk hire, but OTOH Hubert could be really good for a really long time.

Correct. It is pretty tough not to succeed at UNC with the history and resources (yet Doh managed). I think Davis will be fine, but I am less concerned about UNC dominating the ACC than I would have been with some other choices.
 
i’ve always thought the “roy isn’t a great coach” logic was pretty crazy. winning is hard anywhere and he simply wins.
 
If Wes is willing to relocate, he will secure the opportunity to coach at a high major university within two years. He has ten years of experience at UNCG. His record over the past five years is 125-43 and includes two trips to the Dance and two invitations to the NIT. His performance will earn him the opportunity.
 
Coaching is "easier" at UNC or other blue blood schools, but it's not easy anywhere. Look at this past year, KY, Duke, Michigan State and to an extent Kansas all struggled. UNC sucked last year. The idea that any program can run on auto-pilot is wrong.

Agreed. Roy basically admitted in his farewell press conference that the game has passed him by and that he didn't enjoy it anymore. Also, UNC wasn't recruiting as well as Duke or UK the past several years. I've read a number of comments from coaches and sports commentators that Roy's system is outdated for the modern game. So who does UNC hire to replace him? One of his top assistants for the past nine years, and who is unlikely to make major changes in UNC's style of play or recruiting strategy. UNC fans should feel pretty underwhelmed, non-UNC fans should feel pretty good right now. I'm sure that Indiana fans thought they were guaranteed to remain a power when Knight was fired, and that didn't happen. Maybe Davis will be a big success, but he's far more of a risk and question mark than Few or Stevens or even Wes Miller or Stackhouse would have been, imo.

ETA: And if Davis flames out, there's not a Roy Williams waiting in the wings to save UNC this time.
 
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I get trying to poke DR, but that's not true. Wes was the runner up for WF and probably UNC too. He's going to get a Power Conference job. Do think that Wes was less open to going all out for other more distant Power Conference jobs in recent years with the thought that WF and UNC were going to come open.

FWIW, if I was Davis, I would not want Wes on my staff: a) Wes clearly does not want to be lifetime assistant (not good mojo to have your top assistant after your job); b) if UNC succeeds, people will inevitably claim that Wes is pulling the strings; c) Davis should pick his staff, not the UNC AD (among the other flaws in the Bz hire was Wellman's idea that he should pick the staff). That said, if UNC's offer to Davis is contingent on Wes as an assistant, you got to do what you got to do.

The other way to look at it is Wes was the runner up for the only two jobs where his name carries some weight and neither will likely become available soon.
 
I think Wes will get his shot. He’s a god coach. I think he was hiding his time at UNCG for the UNC job (and perhaps the Wake) ion to open up. Things just happened in the wrong order for him. I don’t think he made a huge push for the Wake job in hopes of getting the UNC job. If he had been passed over for UNC first, he may have pushed more for Wake (I still think we would have ended up with Forbes).

It will be interesting to see what he does now. Conventional wisdom around the Greensboro program has been that he was hoping to build up that job so that it would be a smaller step from there to UNC. Now that both that job and Wake’s job are off the table for potentially a long time, I wonder if that changes his calculus. We may see him take the next step up in the next few years.
 
Things as surprising as UNC hiring Hubert Davis:

Someone buying a cup of coffee at a Starbuck's
The sun rising in the east
Summer is hot in Phoenix
 
Do think that Wes was less open to going all out for other more distant Power Conference jobs in recent years with the thought that WF and UNC were going to come open.

Not saying you are wrong, but that I think that is poor logic. If he wants to be convince Wake or UNC, he would have a better argument by being successful at a higher level that UNCG.
 
I bet Wes ends up at somewhere like Georgia, Miami or South Carolina next spring.
 
I think Wes to South Carolina makes a ton of sense, probably next year , but Gamecocks have a very weird thing going on with Frank Martin right now so maybe this month.
 
I'm sure that Indiana fans thought they were guaranteed to remain a power when Knight was fired, and that didn't happen. Maybe Davis will be a big success, but he's far more of a risk and question mark than Few or Stevens or even Wes Miller or Stackhouse would have been, imo.

ETA: And if Davis flames out, there's not a Roy Williams waiting in the wings to save UNC this time.

Dont forget that Indiana also hired an assistant with the last name Davis to replace Knight.
 
I think Wes to South Carolina makes a ton of sense, probably next year , but Gamecocks have a very weird thing going on with Frank Martin right now so maybe this month.

In the 68 years since the ACC was founded, South Carolina made The Dance 9 times. It's where coaching careers go to die.
 
And their current coach has been to the Final Four as many times as every Wake coach combined.
 
Hubert Daivs is less well equipped to succeed as a head coach than Danny Manning was when Wake Forest hired him. Yet, his chance of success is probably five times greater.
 
Things as surprising as UNC hiring Hubert Davis:

Someone buying a cup of coffee at a Starbuck's
The sun rising in the east
Summer is hot in Phoenix

I’m surprised by it. Hiring a guy for a top 3 college basketball job who has never been considered for any other major basketball head coaching job surprises me, even if they’re staying in the family. It seems unambitious and their fan base seems to agree.
 
I’m surprised by it. Hiring a guy for a top 3 college basketball job who has never been considered for any other major basketball head coaching job surprises me, even if they’re staying in the family. It seems unambitious and their fan base seems to agree.

The last time UNC hired someone with no ties to the school I hadn't been born and I'm fucking old.

Frank McGuire tutored Dean Smith. Dean Smith tutored Gut, Duh and Royboy, who tutored Davis.

It may be "unambitious" but it was entirely predictable.
 
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