Let’s Speculate! Potential North Carolina head basketball coach candidates

Welcome to Let’s Speculate! on Coaches Database, where we go through programs that are or may soon be looking for a new head coach and speculate who they may hire next.

Today’s program is North Carolina, led by head coach Roy Williams for the last eighteen seasons (retired on April 1).

• Hubert Davis – North Carolina assistant
  • Davis has been on Roy‘s staff since 2012 and also played for Dean Smith and the Tar Heels. Davis’ name has been floated for a number of head coaching jobs over the last several years and it has already surfaced again for the UNC opening. Another “in the family” hire that makes a lot of sense, as Davis is a former player who also has coaching experience.
• Steve Robinson – North Carolina assistant
  • Robinson is older than Davis (turns 64 this year), which is why we have him second on the list among current assistants. But he has been at UNC since 2003 and also worked under Williams at Kansas for eight seasons, making Robinson his longest-running assistant by far. He also has head coaching experience, having led the Tulsa (1995-97) and Florida State (1997-2002) programs and going to three NCAA Tournaments in between stints at KU.
• Wes Miller – UNC Greensboro head coach
  • Miller was a walk-on for Roy who earned a spot in the rotation with the 2005 Heels’ squad that won the NCAA title, later writing a book about his journey at UNC. He has not coached at the school but has had an impressive coaching career down the road in his native Greensboro, leading the Spartans to four SoCon titles, two NCAA Tournaments and two NITs in ten seasons at the helm. If UNC wants to keep this hire in the “family,” Miller brings the most head coaching experience and success to the table and at 38 years old he could be their guy for decades to come.
• Jerod Haase – Stanford head coach
  • Haase is another member of the Roy Williams coaching tree, having played for him at Kansas and coached under him at both KU and UNC. He’s been at Stanford since 2016 and took the Cardinal to the NIT in 2018 and was in line for a NCAA bid in 2020 before the cancellation. Before moving back West, he spent four years as the head coach at UAB and took the Blazers to the NCAA Tournament in 2015. Haase brings head coaching experience to the table and at 47 is still someone who, if successful, could lead this program for many years to come.
• Jay Wright – Villanova head coach
  • Schools and NBA franchises have been trying to pull Wright away from Villanova for years, but if UNC came calling one would have to think that is the best offer to come through so far. If Wright is going to finally leave Nova, wouldn’t it have to be for the one of the premier basketball coaching jobs in the world? He doesn’t have any ties to the school or the state, but does that matter?  No one else on this list has won two national championships in the last five years. The Wildcats beat Roy and the Heels to win it all in 2016, but surely all will be forgiven if he comes to Chapel Hill.
• Mike White – Florida head coach
  • White has done a great job at Florida, so far, leading the Gators to the NCAA Tournament four times and reaching the Sweet Sixteen back in 2017. Before his hiring at UF in 2015, he spent four years at the helm at Louisiana Tech where he won three-straight conference regular season titles (1x WAC and 2x C-USA). Again, there is no direct tie back to the program but if UNC is looking outside of the family then White is a great candidate.