Who is new UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis? Here’s what you should know about him.
Hubert Davis won’t need an introductory press conference at North Carolina.
Davis, 50, hired Monday as the Tar Heels’ new head basketball coach, played for the late Dean Smith at UNC. After playing in the NBA and a stint on ESPN as a college basketball analyst, he joined Roy Williams’ staff in 2012 and has become a fixture in Chapel Hill, within the UNC program, on the bench and in the community.
Now, Davis is the new guy and is making history. He will be the first African-American head coach in the history of the program.
He is Williams’ successor, keeping the job in the UNC family, which should soothe the anxiety of some Carolina fans and perhaps not please any who were hoping for a move in a new direction after Williams’ departure.
Here’s what to know about Davis.
Davis’ coaching experience
Davis has no head coaching experience. When Williams retired last week, athletic director Bubba Cunningham said that would not be a prerequisite in his search for a new coach.
“I want the best coach for us right now,” Cunningham said last week. “It’s really trying to find who is the right leader for this program right now, with the student-athletes we have on campus and the kids we’re trying to recruit. We’re going to pursue championships and it’s who is the best person to lead us in that direction.”
Davis coached the UNC junior varsity team starting in 2014. He was on the UNC bench as an assistant coach to Williams when the Tar Heels won the 2017 national championship.
The search within the UNC family
Among those mentioned with Carolina ties were UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson; former UNC players Jerry Stackhouse (the head coach at Vanderbilt), Wes Miller (head coach at UNC-Greensboro), and King Rice, who has had success with Monmouth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and has been its coach of the year.
But Cunningham believes the best person is Davis, who was born in Winston-Salem but played his high school ball at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Va., outside Washington, D.C., before coming to UNC.
Talk about a UNC lineage: Davis is the nephew of former Tar Heel star Walter Davis, who played in the 1970s. He once attended UNC summer basketball schools, dreaming of one day wearing a UNC uniform.
Davis’ playing experience
At UNC, he played from 1988 to 1992 for Smith, winning two ACC championships and competing in the 1991 Final Four. UNC lost to a Kansas team coached by Williams.
Averaging 21.4 points as a senior, with a career-high of 35 against Duke in 1992, Davis was a first-round draft pick of the NBA’s New York Knicks.
The 6-4 shooting guard became an NBA journeyman in his 12 years, playing for the Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets before closing out his career in 2004.
Davis, who holds the UNC record for 3-point percentage (.435), became one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters, as well. He finished at 44.1 percent for his pro career, third-best all time.
Davis’ resume
Davis’ TV career began in 2008 with ESPN, and he became a member of ESPN’s “Gameday” broadcast, gaining a lot of TV exposure.
But Davis wanted in on coaching, and Williams soon had him on his UNC staff.
“Hubert Davis is the nicest man I’ve ever known in my life,” Williams said in a 2018 interview with C.L. Brown, now the UNC sports reporter with The News & Observer. “And he’s competitive, too. I thought he’d be a great role model for our kids.”
In his years with the Knicks, Davis played with Greg Anthony, a connection that helped Carolina land guard Cole Anthony, Greg’s son, who is now in the NBA.
But recruiting has changed, Davis said in a September 2016 appearance before the Raleigh Sports Club, with so many players having eyes only for the NBA.
“Kids now, they’re in a hurry to get there,” Davis said. “And a lot of the times, they don’t unpack their packs. They don’t have both feet in. And the thing that I love about these freshmen is, yes — I think they have dreams, aspirations of playing at the NBA level.”
Davis’ influences
In a 2019 interview for the North Carolina Study Center, Davis mentioned those who have helped shape his life.
Davis said his mother died just before his junior year in high school and that his father, Hubert Sr., raised him and his sister, praising the “generosity” of his father. He talked of the generosity of Smith, who gave him a chance to play at UNC and taught him to learn from his mistakes, and how the Williams staff tried to continue to teach sacrifice and generosity.
“But the word generosity and the picture that comes to my mind is my wife,” Davis said in the interview, which can be seen on YouTube. “I have never in my life ever, ever, met anyone more generous than her. ... I pray that my kids have her heart.”
Davis and his wife, Leslie, have three children: Elijah, Bobbie Grace and Micah. Elijah Davis also plays at a high level and is likely to play college basketball.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 3:11 PM.
