UNC Basketball: Former Tar Heel in line for Wake Forest coaching job?

With Danny Manning out at Wake Forest, could a former member of the UNC basketball program be in line for the Demon Deacons’ head coaching position?

Wake Forest fired head basketball coach Danny Manning after six seasons, the school announced on Saturday morning.

The Demon Deacons finished the 2019-20 season with a 13-18 record overall, and a 6-14 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The former Kansas Jayhawk player and coach compiled a 78-111 record overall after taking the job in 2014. Manning’s Demon Deacons never finished the ACC season with a record above .500, and went just 30-80 against conference opponents during his tenure.

Now, without a head coach and the 2020-21 season quickly approaching, Wake Forest will begin its search for a new head coach. That coaching search could end with a former member of the UNC basketball program.

Wes Miller, UNC sharpshooter from 2004 to 2007 and current UNC Greensboro head coach, could be in line to take over the vacant coaching position in Winston-Salem. Miller has seen success in his current position, putting together a record of 164-126 in nine seasons with the program. That includes no less than 23 victories in each of the last four seasons, and three first-place finishes in the Southern Conference since 2012.

According to Rivals basketball analyst Corey Evans, Miller could be just the guy that the Demon Deacons have in mind to fill their head coaching vacancy.

"“A Carolina guy to the core, UNC Greensboro head coach Wes Miller has been viewed as a possible successor to Manning for over a year now,” Evans states. “The 36-year-old has created one of the most challenging mid-major programs in the country and has led the Spartans to two conference titles and an NCAA tournament berth in his nine seasons in charge. Miller got to this point by walking on at North Carolina, before then spending time as an assistant coach at Elon, High Point and UNCG.Accumulating 80 wins within the past three years alone, Miller has made his program one of the elite in the Southern Conference. Outgoing, humble and a young face that should do well with the boosters and alumni base, Miller’s parents are long-time Wake Forest donors and the university’s basketball athletic facility is named after his father.”"

Not only has Miller had a tremendous amount of success in his first head coaching gig, but he’s also already working in the Demon Deacons’ home state of North Carolina. Both make him an attractive candidate for the position moving forward. Evans also named UMBC’s Ryan Odom and College of Charleston’s Earl Grant as possible successor’s to Manning.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for developments in the Wake Forest head coaching search, and everything UNC basketball.