5 realistic head coach candidates UNC should target if the Hubert Davis era ends

North Carolina has yet to make a decision on Hubert Davis’s future, but after the fifth-year head coach is on a scorching hot seat after blowing a 19-point second-half lead to 11th-seeded VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina. 

Davis is under contract until 2030, but if athletic director Bubba Cunningham and the rest of the brass in Chapel Hill pull the trigger, they’d only be on the hook to pay a little over $5 million to buy out his contract. Without a huge financial impediment, it’s hard to imagine the Tar Heels not moving on from a coach who has three first-round tournament exits and missed the field altogether in 2023 after leading a shocking run to the national title game the year before. 

So, if UNC does move on, where should Cunningham and company look first? Well, why not start with the best coaches in college basketball, because it is North Carolina after all. 

Dan Hurley isn’t leaving UConn, Jon Scheyer isn’t leaving Duke, and it’s hard to imagine Dusty May leaving Michigan. Legends like Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, and even Kelvin Sampson are too old to consider, and won’t be on the move regardless. Other than the new established stars and the old guard, basically every coach in college basketball should be on the table as a realistic option. These five look to be the cream of that crop. 

READ: 5 Hubert Davis replacements UNC fans should be dreaming of

The 40-year-old head coach just won a national championship and is one of the favorites to do it again as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Golden is perfectly equipped to not just handle but thrive in the NIL era. He’s excellent at identifying overlooked Transfer Portal talent, but despite bringing in veterans, he doesn’t sacrifice the development of his young players. The only red flag on his resume is a Title IX investigation last season. 

The Transfer Portal isn’t the only place where Golden is ahead of the curve. He’s helped force the sport to supersize, laying the blueprint for many of this year’s best teams that emphasize rim dominance on both ends of the floor. Golden has been an innovator, and he looks to be a coach who will continue to be a trend-setter as he ages. 

Would Golden leave Florida for North Carolina? If you’re Bubba Cunningham, it’s worth giving him a call to find out. Golden is the best under-50-year-old coach in the country, and maybe he thinks he could do even more winning in Chapel Hill. 

TJ Otzelberger began his coaching career at Burlington Catholic Central High School in Burlington, Wisconsin, and worked his way up from an Iowa State assistant to head coaching gigs at South Dakota State and UNLV before taking over in Ames in 2021. Just about everywhere he’s been, Otzelberger has won, including turning the Cyclones into a national title contender. 

Otzelberger, the king of the shmedium, has built a reputation on teams that play hard-nosed defense and smother their opponents, but this year, he’s built a highly-skilled and nuanced offense that ranks top 20 in KenPom adjusted efficiency. His team's run could be stymied by an ankle injury suffered by All-American forward Joshua Jefferson in its first-round win over Tennessee State on Friday, but they're a legit threat to win the Midwest Region.

Nate Oats lives by the three and dies by the three, but since he left Buffalo, New York, for Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he’s done a lot more living than dying. Oats led the Crimson Tide to the Final Four, and for a program devoid of basketball history, he’s turned them into a perennial contender. 

Alabama was a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament four times before Oats arrived. This year, he just secured his fifth top-four seed in seven seasons. The financial investment in Chapel Hill will almost certainly surpass the backing Oats has in Tuscaloosa, and yet he’s been a factor in the portal and on the high school trail. 

Oats could stay at Alabama and cement himself as a program legend, or the 51-year-old could take a chance on the North Carolina job and have a chance to become a legend of the sport. That decision carries some risk, but Oats doesn’t strike me as someone who would be afraid to take a chance. Plus, he already has plenty of plaid baby blue blazers in his closet, so that would ease the transition. 

The 49-year-old former Baylor point guard and North Texas head coach seems to be a Texas lifer, but he’s a good enough coach to win anywhere. His teams play a methodical pace, but are hyper-efficient on the offensive end and match the physicality of the Big 12. 

McCasland’s biggest strength might be his ability to develop talent. He took JT Toppin, who had a promising start to his career at New Mexico in 2023-24 and turned him into a first-team All-American this season. Then, after losing Toppin to a torn ACL in February, he reconfigured his offense around Christian Anderson, his All-American sophomore point guard, and is heading to the Round of 32 to face Alabama on Sunday. 

Texas Tech has money to spend, but most of it seems to be finding its way to the football field. After last season’s Elite Eight run, McCasland lost Darrion Williams to a major payday at North Carolina State. The program managed to keep Toppin for another year, but at UNC, he may have been able to keep both. That’s what the Tar Heels can offer coaches who think they’re content where they are. 

Mark Byington was a three-year starter at UNC Wilmington, so he may have the best ties to the state of any of North Carolina’s potential Hubert Davis replacements. While that shouldn’t be a requirement, it’s not a bad selling point either. 

More important is what Byington has done since taking over Vanderbilt. After a 16-0 start this season, his second year in Nashville, the former Georgia Southern and James Madison head coach led the Commodores to the SEC Championship Game, downing Florida along the way. At 49 years old, he’s one of the most exciting up-and-coming coaches in the country, and you’d have to imagine he’d be dying to get to Chapel Hill.