Right now, having Nate Oats or Todd Golden sitting in a press conference talking about what made them accept the North Carolina job sounds pretty nice, especially compared to the unknown place that Tar Heel basketball seems to be headed after Tommy Lloyd said thanks, but no thanks, to an amazing offer to take over the program.
Maybe it made sense at the time for Bubba Cunningham to not aggressively pursue certain coaches after he dismissed Hubert Davis, but in hindsight it's possible he overplayed his hand. College basketball is in a different place and the brands just don't mean what they used to for some people.
UNC did all it could to sway Tommy Lloyd to Chapel Hill.
— Keeping It Heel (@KeepingItHeel) April 3, 2026
It didn’t work out.
To the Arizona fans in our mentions: congrats on keeping your guy. Y’all should be flattered we wanted Lloyd he’s a tremendous coach.
Bubba Cunningham has to prove this coaching search isn't too big for him
North Carolina basketball has a standard and that standard stretches from the court to the classroom. For the coaches, it's about running the program to a high standard and carrying yourself to an even higher standard. For all the criticisms that Davis may have deserved for the results on the court, there's no question he represented the Tar Heel community off the court in a way that made them proud.
Golden has some questionable off-the-court concerns that we know about and, if they come to surface again, could bring an athletic program crashing down. Hiring him would probably make some people a little uncomfortable. Oats' program in Tuscaloosa had more than enough drama during the season and the postseason. A coach coming into North Carolina with baggage isn't ideal, but college basketball isn't the bastion of sanctity that it might've been decades ago.
The harsh truth is that Carolina fans want wins and, if that means that Cunningham has to work a little harder to keep the coach walking the straight and narrow, so be it. The Tar Heels want to compete at the highest level consistently. They want a coach that can compete in the transfer portal, compete in the NIL world and understands how to navigate and be successful in this environment. In a perfect world, you'd love to have a guy that can do all that and also not have any baggage, but it's a tough ask.