I'm a little surprised that so many here don't understand that UNC basketball is a lot more than wins and losses to some people.
It could be that true that UNC has to be fully immersed in the new ecosystem to be ultra elite but that doesn't mean everyone has to be thrilled by it.
This is the problem Bigs - I'm tired of being told that because I and others thought Hubert was not performing up to expectations and should be fired as a result, that means I "don't understand that UNC basketball is a lot more than wins and losses to some people." I do understand that. And in fact, it's about more than wins and losses to ME, and probably to a lot of the other people who are being lumped in with me too. But some people on this thread have essentially taken the position that anyone who agreed with Hubert being fired wants to sell the soul of UNC's bball program to the devil at the alter of wins and losses. It's an entirely unfair, and inaccurate, characterization. The point I've been trying to make all along is that elite success
is a big part of what has always made UNC bball special. Not that it's the
only thing that makes UNC special.
I understand that people are upset that the landscape of college sports has shifted dramatically. I understand that people are upset about feeling a loss of connection to their school - or about feeling that the program itself is losing some sort of connection to the past. I completely understand all that angst. What is not necessary as part of that discussion is for the people who are upset about that to accuse everyone who simply believes that UNC has to play in the modern ecosystem, by the modern rules, of gleefully celebrating the demise of the tradition or "family" aspect of UNC basketball, which again is not accurate at all. What I would say is that our attempt to bring UNC bball into the modern world by clinging to the family aspect through the Roy/Hubert succession was not successful, and makes clear to me that for UNC basketball to be successful moving forward, it's going to have to accept a loosening of the reigns when it comes to the family aspect. That doesn't mean I don't like or appreciate the family aspect. That doesn't mean I want to jettison the family aspect entirely. That doesn't mean I don't understand its role in making UNC bball special in the first place. It simply means our idea of what UNC basketball is, and what makes it special, has to evolve to account for the fact that the sport has changed around us. Because if we don't, it means a continued slide into mediocrity and national irrelevance. And that
guarantees that UNC bball will no longer be or feel special, because no one will care about a mediocre program no matter how many former assistants are sitting on the bench.
It's also frustrating for posters (well, mostly one poster) to repeatedly claim, completely incorrectly, that those of us who thought it was time to move on from Hubert don't understand the risks of doing so or how bad it could get. Once again, that is completely inaccurate, because that argument is conflating an understanding of the risk with a willingness to take the risk. I and others understand perfectly well that the next UNC coach could be less successful than Hubert, and there's no guarantee things will get better. But I and others are willing to take that risk, even though we understand it, while the posters on the other side aren't willing to take that risk. Because I will take the chance at returning our bball program to being special, even with the risk that it declines further, over the reality that if we continued down the path with Hubert I considered it a virtual certainty that UNC bball would continue to decline in relevance and national prominence, which in turn would make the program less special no matter how tightly we clung to the "family."
I will concede that the comment I made about banners that you were responding to was overly snarky. It was made late at night and reflected, again, my frustration at certain posters repeatedly mischaracterizing the positions of me and other people who feel similarly. But I absolutely will stick to the truth underlying the snark, which, again, is that there never would have been anything special about UNC bball if our "family" and the "Carolina Way" weren't accompanied by elite, historic levels of success. We have long prided ourselves on winning - winning ACC regular season titles, winning ACCT titles, going to the S16, going to the FF, winning national titles. That's why we hang banners for those things. Dean Smith and Roy Williams built a program that accomplished one or more of those things damn near every year. And in three of the last four years - 2024 being the exception - we accomplished none of those things, and really didn't come anywhere close. Having a period where in 3 of 4 years you don't get any higher than a 6 seed, don't come close to any ACC title, and don't get past the first round of the NCAA Tournament is simply well below the standard that our program has set. And the decision makers looked forward to next season, and saw a situation where it was difficult to believe our team next year could even match this year's team in terms of accomplishments, much less improve on them. That's an assessment I happen to agree with. But agreeing with that assessment and believing change was necessary doesn't mean I don't appreciate UNC's history or tradition, or don't understand the risks in changing the way we think about that tradition, or that I think that UNC bball shouldn't stand for anything more than wins and losses.
