UNC Basketball: How to replace a coaching legend in Roy Williams

The latest trend when it comes to hiring head coaches has been to hire a former player, for some, it hasn’t worked out but for others like Memphis and Michigan it has been a successful route to take.

Two seasons ago, Memphis hired Penny Hardaway straight out of East High School and that has resulted in an NIT title this past season. In the same two seasons, Michigan’s Juwan Howard has taken his alma mater to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and came within one bucket of reaching the Final Four.

Shortly after the end of the NCAA Tournament, to the surprise of some, North Carolina found themselves in the need of a head coach after Roy Williams announced his retirement. The Tar Heels suddenly had to look for a replacement for a Carolina legend who returned home to lead UNC to three national titles and four appearances in the title game.

With a job as prominent as North Carolina, the Tar Heels would likely have their pick of any candidate they wanted to offer the job to. Initial speculation brought up the names of two guys who had once donned the Carolina blue.

Wes Miller, who played for Williams and has been one of the hottest coaching commodities over the past couple of seasons because of the job he had done at UNC-Greensboro, but he ultimately ended up at Cincinnati. The other was Hubert Davis, who played under the great Dean Smith and joined Williams’ staff in 2012.

On the day of the national championship game, Davis was chosen as Williams’ successor and the first Black head coach in the school’s history.