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UNC Basketball: Head coaches that could replace Roy Williams at UNC

By Blake Cockrum

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during their game against the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during their game against the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NC – DECEMBER 31: Assistant coach Steve Robinson of the North Carolina Tar Heels coaches against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks on December 31, 2013 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina defeated UNC Wilmington 84-51. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /

Steve Robinson

by Blake Cockrum

Steve Robinson was an assistant coach under Roy Williams at Kansas from 1988 to 1995. Robinson then took head coaching gigs at Tulsa and Florida State prior to rejoining Williams at Kansas in 2002. He then left Kansas with Williams in 2003 when the two made the move to Chapel Hill to join the UNC coaching staff.

If anyone knows the UNC playbook, it’s Robinson. And making the move to put Robinson in charge of the team would be a fairly safe move that maintains stability and continuity within the program. For me, it likens to when Bill Guthridge took over the reins for Dean Smith back in 1997. Similar to when Guthridge took over for Smith, though, Robinson at head coach would likely be a short-term solution that would require readjustments not long down the line.

Robinson probably isn’t looking to lead a team at this point in his career, either, having been seemingly happy as an assistant to Williams for the past two decades since his last job as a head coach in 2002. I’m sure if he had to do it for the betterment of the program, then he would absolutely take the job. Luckily for him, and the North Carolina basketball program, the UNC coaching tree is vast and talented.

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