UNC’s Next Basketball Coach

SnoopRob said:
I agree that interest from other programs is one way to judge the reputation of an assistant coach.

And, obviously, hiring highly-regarded assistants is a traditional practice in all sports and one that is very defensible at most programs.

As far as I know, there was little to no interest in HD when he was an assistant under Roy, but that probably says less about HD's ability than (A) it was known he was a "Carolina Guy" and wouldn't go anywhere else and (B) Roy's coaching tree is pretty underwhelming and so there isn't a lot of clamoring for his assistants as HCs.

Another thing to consider is where within the assistant coach hierarchy does a particular assistant sit. Some assistants are essentially "associate head coaches" without the title and take on a lot of responsibility under the HC. Others are further down the org chart, so to speak, and take on less responsibility. HD had been the HC of the JV team, but it was clear that Steve Robinson was Roy's main assistant coach and that HD was further down the pecking order. You'd obviously know better than I would about how Fox viewed Forbes, but my limited view is that Forbes was Fox's "associate head coach", especially in the years before Fox retired.
Click to expand...
He was indeed the associate head coach. He had also coached other places and been highly successful as an assistant prior to returning to Carolina. He coached here as a volunteer when that was a thing in college baseball because only 2 paid assistants were allowed. He left and coached at other d1 programs and they won then he returned when Holbrrok left for SC. He also had coached both as a hitting coach and as a pitching coach.

I will say this. Scott was not anointed in the way HD was because Coach Fox doesnt have the juice that Roy does and he didnt make it a "you will do this" moment the way Roy did. They still conducted a search and interviewed several including Holbrook who had been the HC qt South Carolina and is now at College of Charleston and is an alumni (which Forbes is not...played at Wesleyan for Fox).

Which brings me to what I think would be the perfect mix if we could ever find it...a head coach who is not an alum who embraces the place and hires assistants who are alums to cement the bond.
 
Rock said:
My opinion regarding assistants and whether they are contributing or not, with a tad bit of bias, is that much can’t be taken away given it’s dependent on the whether the head coach listens to them or not.
Click to expand...
And that is VERY true. I would submit that any head coach who does not take the input of their assistant coaches is destined to fail regardless of the quality of the assistants.
 
I'm an outsider and I don't know what the AD budget for basketball looks like. Certainly the UNC job still has a certain cache, but as they say, money talks and bullshit walks. Particularly in this NIL era, not only do you need to shell out for substantial head coach/staff salaries and facilities, but you need a pot of NIL money to spend every year.

So is UNC willing to put up $25-30m/5 (or more) because that's what a top 20 BB coach costs at a minimum before accounting for staff salary and NIL commitments. The most recent coach salary list I saw (~a year old) had Davis as the highest paid ACC coach at just under $3.75m. That was around 28th in the country. Post season extensions and coaching changes may have pushed him down the lost.

You're really beginning to see the deeper pockets of B10 and SEC schools from their media payouts show up. The environment to pull a high end coach, even for a blue blood like UNC, has never been more difficult.
 
I woul
dcphx said:
I'm an outsider and I don't know what the AD budget for basketball looks like. Certainly the UNC job still has a certain cache, but as they say, money talks and bullshit walks. Particularly in this NIL era, not only do you need to shell out for substantial head coach/staff salaries and facilities, but you need a pot of NIL money to spend every year.

So is UNC willing to put up $25-30m/5 (or more) because that's what a top 20 BB coach costs at a minimum before accounting for staff salary and NIL commitments. The most recent coach salary list I saw (~a year old) had Davis as the highest paid ACC coach at just under $3.75m. That was around 28th in the country. Post season extensions and coaching changes may have pushed him down the lost.

You're really beginning to see the deeper pockets of B10 and SEC schools from their media payouts show up. The environment to pull a high end coach, even for a blue blood like UNC, has never been more difficult.
Click to expand...
I really don’t think that money would be a limiting factor if UNC does end up needing to hire a new coach. By all accounts we have a top 10ish NIL payroll this season. If we’re being honest, Hubert’s salary being relatively low is probably just a hometown discount because we’re not competing against other programs for his services. I bet UNC would pony up for a high salary if push comes to shove.

Personally i think that UNC is still one of the best jobs in the country and is highly coveted. There really isn’t a way to know for sure though until the position is actually open. Kentucky fans probably thought the same thing after they moved on from Calipari a few years ago and it felt like they had to settle when they hired Pope.
 
donbosco said:
I am very anxious about the same (essentially) crew doing a search and hire of our basketball coach as did what they did in hiring our football coach. I don't want one scintilla of Roberts' input in the hire as well. I don't see any respect for Coach Smith or his principles among them -- just the opposite. I realize that sort of thing doesn't matter to a great many folk involved, even alumni, and there are people 'out there' that just want to win regardless of tradition, history, or a "way." I don't want a rat or a knight or a hurley type. I'd rather lose games than the heart and soul of a way of seeing that has meant the world to me. Coach Smith's book, A Coach's Life, is practically a Code for Living for me. If you have read it at least you know what I mean. If you haven't then you probably don't and likely don't agree.

All that is just my tiny 2 cents. I suspect that way of thinking will neither be heeded nor even figured in as we move forward. It may just be how things are going to be -- college basketball may very well have changed that dramatically.

By the way, @LeoBloom wrote earlier about innovation and technological upgrades -- state of the art -- I find that sort of thing in keeping with Coach Smith's way and am 100% behind that.

For the time being I'm going to rally around the well rather than throw someone down it.
Click to expand...
TBH, I don't see much respect for the way Coach Smith or Roy did things from our current staff. When have you been able to say any of our teams under Hubert have played smart, played hard, and played together for anywhere close to 40 minutes if at all?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top