When the UNC basketball program elected to part ways with Hubert Davis, plenty of potential replacement names surfaced rapidly.
While most were "outside the family" names, one potentially intriguing option had family ties to the program. That was legend Jerry Stackhouse, who was one of the very few potential "family hires" who came with coaching experience at the collegiate ranks.
However, North Carolina appeared to have no interest in keeping it in the family, as Stackhouse wasn't even interviewed for the job.
For the first time since the program hired Michael Malone, Stackhouse spoke about the decision. In an interview with Jim Rome, he voiced his opinion on the matter, one that Tar Heel fans have been waiting to hear.
Jerry Stackhouse expresses his disappointment with UNC
"I feel like I have a resume that could stand up to anybody."@JerryStackhouse expresses his disappointment not being considered for the UNC job while showing his respect for recently hired Michael Malone on Episode 409 of The Jim Rome Podcast: https://t.co/M4RenWeipI pic.twitter.com/2mtW8rMqlT
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) May 8, 2026
Rome started by asking Stackhouse if he was surprised that the university didn't even at least consider him for the job. The former UNC basketball star seemed to be a bit surprised by it:
 "Yeah, I was, and I wasn't (surprised UNC looked outside the family for the head coaching hire)," Stackhouse said. "I think it's with what was going on there, with Hubert (Davis), I think nobody really liked how that went down for him. It had been part of the family, and then to not have an opportunity to talk about it, I think that was the most disappointing thing for me."
Stackhouse confirmed that North Carolina didn't even extend an interview his way, showing that they really didn't have much interest in keeping the job in the family.
"They were like, 'We're, we're not gonna interview you," and I felt like I had a resume that could stand up to anybody," Stackhouse added. "I won the coach of the year in the SEC. I had a team that finished fourth in the SEC when we weren't even participating in NIL, and so it's I, whooped all their a**es, so I feel like when just from an X and O standpoint and being able to get and develop guys, guys that weren't all four and five star guys, but we developed them, and they became all league players.
Scottie Pippen's a pro. Aaron Nesmith, too, is a pro. These are guys that I helped to develop while they were there, Saben Lee. So I think those are the things that were disappointing that I didn't get a chance to at least state my case for why we shouldn't have to go out of the family.
As disappointed as he is for not having a true crack at landing the job, Stackhouse showed respect for Michael Malone, the man tabbed to lead the program moving forward.
"I think Mike Malone's a good coach. He's one of the guys that I respect in the pros. He's one of the guys that I used to watch how his team played and how they defended, and more offensively, but I do think that he's gonna do well.
He (Malone) has the system, he has schemes, he understands how to play. But absolutely was disappointing that I didn't get a chance to to at least talk about that job, especially with what I, what I've done for that program and think what I've done in the coaching realm to be able to at least sit and talk about it."
Not many expected that North Carolina would entertain keeping the job within the family this offseason, but the one guy who most fans thought could at least earn an interview was Stackhouse. However, UNC proved that their goal was to find the best coach with the most proven track record, something that Stackhouse's resume (even though there are some great achievements there) doesn't show when you look at the overall data.
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