The ugliness and awkwardness of Hubert Davis’ exit should not overshadow the man he is.
Anyone who knows anything about the lofty standards of UNC knows the last few seasons in Chapel Hill have not been up to par. Carolina has not graced the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 in three of the past four seasons — something that would’ve been unthinkable in the heydays of Dean Smith and Roy Williams.
Hubert earned what appeared to be a lifetime of grace from Tar Heel fans for his postseason run in 2022. But it turns out memories are short in these parts, especially when you end a season like this year’s group did. Carolina’s 19-point collapse against VCU wasn’t just historic, but it was also seen by the largest TV audience ever to watch a first-round tournament game. More than 10 million people saw what UNC fans had seen for much of the season: a lead built through electric play on both ends of the court, then frittered away by mental mistakes.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports Deliver the Most-Watched NCAA Tournament First Round Opening Day Ever
🏀Thursday’s games averaged 9.8 million viewers, the best opening day on record
🏀Primetime window averaged 12.5 million viewers, the most-watched First Round window ever pic.twitter.com/loEB0p4btd
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 23, 2026
Those millions of viewers thankfully didn’t see Davis’ postgame press conference, in which the respectful man most of us knew was replaced by a snippy, snarky and clearly frustrated coach. When asked what went wrong in the latter part of the game, Davis asked, “What do you mean?” When asked why his substitution patterns were so tight, Davis responded like a parent sending a child to his room: “Because that was my decision.”
We should not throw stones in glass houses. All of us have gone through bad experiences and said things we later regretted in the heat of the moment. So we should give Hubert the benefit of the doubt here, and let the overwhelming majority of his life override this particularly bad moment.
Davis is a Tar Heel through and through, from his days idolizing his uncle Walter to his playing years as a sharpshooter, all the way through his time as an assistant coach and later head coach. He earned memorable wins on every level, and nobody who calls themselves a Carolina fan will ever forget those nights in March and April of 2022.
Davis said in a rare social media post that he wanted to continue coaching at his beloved alma mater, and that his goal is to coach again in the “very near future.” So imagine this: Davis takes a job at a mid-major looking to bring in a known name. That mid-major schedules a game in the Smith Center, bringing Hubert back to Chapel Hill. Any fan worth their salt should give the man a standing ovation when he takes the opposite bench.
Don’t get it twisted: it was time for UNC to make a change. The standard outweighs any one person. But Hubert Davis is a good man, and hopefully will be remembered as such.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
