UNC Basketball Possible coaches - UNC hires ex-Nuggets HC Michael Malone

Centerpiece said:
Can’t discount the possibility of finding an assistant (like Lloyd was) or a mid-major head coach (like May was at FAM).
Lloyd is curious: played for Walla Walla, went on to play internationally in Australia and Europe. Became an Asst for Few at Gonzaga in charge of “international recruiting”. Then got the head job at Arizona. He was never a head coach anywhere before Zona.

May on the other hand was a head coach before (albeit a mid-major) and took a team to the FF.
Mays history of being a successful head coach and getting to a FF puts him in a different place than just any ordinary, young mid-major coach, so that hire by Michigan makes more since than Arizona picking a basic unknown assistant from the Pacific NW with no head coaching experience at all.

Finding a Diamond in the rough like Lloyd would be cool, but very very tricky.
Any mid-major head coaches out there who’ve guided their team to a FF like May?
Didn’t think so.
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There are very few HC under the age of 60 who have a FF on their resume

  • Scheyer (Duke)
  • Golden (Florida)
  • Davis (UNC)
  • May (Michigan)
  • Oats (Alabama)
  • Hurley (UConn)
  • Smart (Marquette)
  • Beard (Ole Miss)
  • Drew (Baylor)
  • Cronin (UCLA)

Might have missed one or two
 
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
Just throwing this out here - what if we are waiting for the Illinois head Coach.....
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I know you were joking but the Underwood's last contract extension has a full non-compete barring him from "accepting a position at another NCAA institution" through the end of the contract (2031, now 2032). There is an out to the non-compete which can be triggered if 'certain material changes' have occurred. The contract has up to 4 1 year auto extensions, triggered by a Tournament appearance. Underwood has also said repeatedly, including long before he was hired, that Illinois was his dream job.

That material change is likely if the AD Josh Whitman leaves. Whitman is an alumni and was on the Illinois football team and there have been no rumors that he might look elsewhere. Whitman's contract runs through 2031 and he's one of the higher paid ADs in the Big Ten. Whitman's contract may also have a buyout.
 
If we end up with a Diamond in the Rough that is going to make quite a few people unhappy. In fact I'm increasingly skeptical (started out that way to be honest) that we'll know anything but tumult for some time to come given the record of Tar Heel Nation's dialogue over the past five -- and in some cases past ten (and there I refer to voices that were unhappy with Coach Williams during his final campaigns).

Maybe that Diamond could have a miracle first season or the like and that would quell the dissent.

Ha! Naw.
 
dcphx said:
I know you were joking but the Underwood's last contract extension has a full non-compete barring him from "accepting a position at another NCAA institution" through the end of the contract (2031, now 2032). There is an out to the non-compete which can be triggered if 'certain material changes' have occurred. The contract has up to 4 1 year auto extensions, triggered by a Tournament appearance. Underwood has also said repeatedly, including long before he was hired, that Illinois was his dream job.

That material change is likely if the AD Josh Whitman leaves. Whitman is an alumni and was on the Illinois football team and there have been no rumors that he might look elsewhere. Whitman's contract runs through 2031 and he's one of the higher paid ADs in the Big Ten. Whitman's contract may also have a buyout.
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That is not an enforceable noncompete.
 
dcphx said:
I know you were joking but the Underwood's last contract extension has a full non-compete barring him from "accepting a position at another NCAA institution" through the end of the contract (2031, now 2032). There is an out to the non-compete which can be triggered if 'certain material changes' have occurred. The contract has up to 4 1 year auto extensions, triggered by a Tournament appearance. Underwood has also said repeatedly, including long before he was hired, that Illinois was his dream job.

That material change is likely if the AD Josh Whitman leaves. Whitman is an alumni and was on the Illinois football team and there have been no rumors that he might look elsewhere. Whitman's contract runs through 2031 and he's one of the higher paid ADs in the Big Ten. Whitman's contract may also have a buyout.
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I really doubt that the non-compete would be unenforceable, but year, I don't think we're going after Underwood.
 
donbosco said:
If we end up with a Diamond in the Rough that is going to make quite a few people unhappy. In fact I'm increasingly skeptical (started out that way to be honest) that we'll know anything but tumult for some time to come given the record of Tar Heel Nation's dialogue over the past five -- and in some cases past ten (and there I refer to voices that were unhappy with Coach Williams during his final campaigns).

Maybe that Diamond could have a miracle first season or the like and that would quell the dissent.

Ha! Naw.
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We are definitely going to continue to have tumult if we continue to have results like we've had the last 7 years, that's for sure. We'll just have to see how the new coach does.
 
rodoheel said:
From a "what was the program's history prior to the coach being there," I think the comparison between the Arizona job in 2026 and Illinois job in 2003 is pretty accurate. But I think the issue for us is not that Arizona is a historically successful program, it's that it looks like a place where Lloyd can compete for titles over the next 5-10 years just as well as he can compete at UNC. That's the thing , IMO, that could ultimately lead to him turning us down. Unless there is a lot of friction with the AD, or we can offer him substantially more money, what is the case that UNC is a better place to succeed than Arizona in the short to mid term?
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If Tommy Lloyd stays at Arizona and goes on a fifteen year run, he would be considered the greatest coach in Arizona history, he would be a legend, and he could retire to Arizona without moving. If he comes to Carolina and goes on a fifteen year run, he would arguably be considered the third best coach in Carolina history.
 
I honestly think we have Lloyd from ariz all but lined up .Why would q generational success leave?
1. He does not get along with his AD
2. Arizona is by no means a given for the new Power conference-UNC supposedly is
Arizona is in the big 12 this week Thats pretty good , but not good enough to build (NIL) a big sustained power
Roy and Few were tight, Lloyd made his mark as an Assitant to Few
I understand I am being super positive
 
rodoheel said:
From a "what was the program's history prior to the coach being there," I think the comparison between the Arizona job in 2026 and Illinois job in 2003 is pretty accurate. But I think the issue for us is not that Arizona is a historically successful program, it's that it looks like a place where Lloyd can compete for titles over the next 5-10 years just as well as he can compete at UNC. That's the thing , IMO, that could ultimately lead to him turning us down. Unless there is a lot of friction with the AD, or we can offer him substantially more money, what is the case that UNC is a better place to succeed than Arizona in the short to mid term?
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I think with UNC’s NIL commitment and brand recognition you can make the argument that a coach as good as Lloyd would be able to orchestrate a pretty quick turnaround to being a national contender again. To your point though he’s already built a program that is a consistent title contender at Arizona, so there’s not really a pure basketball reason to pick UNC over his current setup.

If we were able to snag Lloyd we’d be banking on the soft factors: maybe the idea of restoring a blue blood program to prominence is too intriguing of a challenge to pass up. Maybe he and his family would rather live in Chapel Hill instead of Tucson for whatever reason. Things like that can easily tip the scales in these decisions, but there’s no way to know where exactly he stands on all of that stuff.
 
mpaer said:
I honestly think we have Lloyd from ariz all but lined up .Why would q generational success leave?
1. He does not get along with his AD
2. Arizona is by no means a given for the new Power conference-UNC supposedly is
Arizona is in the big 12 this week Thats pretty good , but not good enough to build (NIL) a big sustained power
Roy and Few were tight, Lloyd made his mark as an Assitant to Few
I understand I am being super positive
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This is the best case scenario. 🤞🏻
 
BlueSteel said:
Ok, ok... But have you seen any signs lately that we are any closer than Arizona to a Final Four?
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no one is claiming that arizona isn't in a pretty good spot right now but the end of the sean miller era was a dumpster fire - they were barely over .500 from 18/19 through 20/21.

UNC is certainly in much, much better shape now than zona was before lloyd took over.
 
UNCBAdookJD said:
Hard to call a team a perennial powerhouse that is in its first Final Four in 25 years.
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I get that but since Lloyd has gotten there they have gotten 1, 1, 2, 2, 4 seeds in the tourney, have made four S16 and now a FF. Is there any reason to think that level of success isn't going to continue if Lloyd stays there? And can he realistically achieve a higher level of success at UNC?

We'll potentially get Lloyd if we can offer him significantly more money (unclear, but doubtful) or if he really hates his AD and wants to leave (there's at least smoke there, but who knows).. I don't think, if he is making the decision based on which program offers him to best chance to succeed, that there's a clear case that UNC is the right answer for that issue.
 
4thgenheel said:
no one is claiming that arizona isn't in a pretty good spot right now but the end of the sean miller era was a dumpster fire - they were barely over .500 from 18/19 through 20/21.

UNC is certainly in much, much better shape now than zona was before lloyd took over.
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So what? What's your point? See rodoheel's post two above this one. He gets it.
 
Getting Lloyd seems like it would almost be too good to be true. Some serious pie in the sky.
But, if the skies open up, the thing I like about him is his years overseas and his expertise recruiting foreigners.

The curious thing about him was his absolute lack of any head coaching experience whatsoever. How lucky - or let’s say extremely insightful - for Zona to pluck a long-time assistant with no head coaching experience from the Paciifc NW and have that wet behind the ears greenhorn take Arizona to the top of college basketball? Tourney seeds of 4, 2, 2, 1, 1 and now a FF. And as has been stated, Zona wasn’t exactly lighting it up in years prior.

Who woulda thunk it?

Of course both Dean and Roy did it, so it’s not like it can’t be done.
 
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