Former UNC guard and assistant coach Marcus Paige joins Charlotte coaching staff
Former North Carolina star Marcus Paige has joined Wes Miller’s coaching staff at Charlotte, the school announced Wednesday.
Paige and Miller are both former assistants and standout guards at UNC. Paige will serve as an assistant coach under Miller, who was named the 49ers’ head coach in late March.
Paige, 32, comes to Charlotte after three seasons on UNC’s staff under Hubert Davis, following a seven-year professional playing career. Paige is the first North Carolina assistant coach to announce his plans for next year after Davis was fired last week.
Paige played at UNC from 2012–16, becoming the only three-time captain in program history and finishing 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,844 career points. Paige also holds the program records for 3-pointers (299) and ranks among the all-time leaders in assists, steals, and free-throw percentage.
“He is a rising star in coaching,” Miller said in a statement released by Charlotte. “I’ve gotten to know him well during his time as an assistant at UNC and have been blown away by him as a young man and coach.”
“He works hard, he’s curious, and he understands the game at an extremely high level,” Miller continued. “What I’m most impressed with is how naturally he communicates and connects with young people.”
A native of Marion, Iowa, Paige earned first-team All-ACC and second-team All-America honors as a sophomore. He later added ACC and All-America recognition in 2015 and 2016.
Paige helped lead UNC to an ACC Tournament championship and the 2016 NCAA title game, where his off-balance, game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds remains one of the most memorable shots in North Carolina and NCAA tournament history.
Paige also excelled academically at UNC, becoming one of three players in ACC history to earn Academic All-America honors three times. He twice received the ACC’s Skip Prosser Award as the league’s top scholar-athlete and was a finalist as a senior for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar award.
Paige was selected in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft. He played in the NBA, NBA Development League, and overseas in Serbia, France, and Spain before joining UNC’s coaching staff in June 2023.
This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 6:18 PM.
