With the way Michael Malone has been making moves for UNC this offseason, sometimes it's easy to forget that he wasn't hired all that long ago. It's also easy to forget that there were several other top targets North Carolina was making a move for, including veteran head coach Billy Donovan. In the end, Donovan ended up passing.
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At the time, he was still leading the charge for the Bulls, but the two sides ended up parting ways. Donovan is still looking for a new job, but he could end up spending most of his time out on the golf course next campaign. Wait, what? That's right, it's now being speculated that Donovan could take a year off from coaching, with Evan Sidery even reporting that Donovan may look to go the college route in 2027-28. If that's on his mind, then not taking the UNC job seems like a huge mistake.
Many executives believe Billy Donovan will now take a year off from coaching, potentially angling for a return to college at a blue blood program.
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 16, 2026
After passing on North Carolina, there’s buzz suggesting Donovan would be very intrigued by Kentucky as a top landing spot in 2027. pic.twitter.com/icVX4zyXYq
Billy Donovan could end up regretting not taking the North Carolina job
There's obviously a lot of moving pieces here. Keep in mind, too, that when North Carolina first reached out, Donovan was still on his grind to close out the season with the Bulls - multiple reports stated that he was going to entertain any other job offers until Chicago wrapped up its campaign.
This, of course, put the Tar Heels in a difficult spot. With the transfer portal set to open, the ACC powerhouse simply could not sit on its hands and wait for Donovan to make a decision. That's why a bit of a pivot was made, with Malone jumping to the top of the list, and an offer being extended.
Thus far, Malone has been turning plenty of heads with his recruiting efforts, while the addition of Chuck Martin to the staff was no question a home-run hire. With things gelling together, North Carolina has posted some pretty great recruiting wins, of course, including the additions of Terrence Brown, Sayon Keita, Matt Able, Neoklis Avdalas and others.
While no one is expecting UNC to compete for a national championship in 2026-27, the pieces are in place for the Heels to be quite competitive and make plenty of noise from start to finish once things get underway. As for Donovan, he might end up regretting not taking the opportunity to move to Chapel Hill.
Say things play out where he takes over in Lexington instead. He'd end up inheriting a mess created by Mark Pope, who is no question on his last life with the Wildcats. From our chair, coaching at North Carolina would be a much better option than Kentucky, but maybe Donovan is seeing things a touch differently - his past with Florida could hint he's a bigger fan of the SEC, but who knows.
In the end, things worked out the way they were supposed to for Carolina, with Malone doing things the right way since taking over for Hubert Davis. Donovan had the chance to grab that seat at the table, but he blew it and ended up saying no thanks. With the way things have gone for him this offseason, we have no problem saying it was a big mistake on his part.
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