UNC’s Next Basketball Coach

SnoopRob said:
I don't think most Carolina fans want the Carolina Way to disappear altogether, I think most of us simply want it to adapt to the modern era. In a previous conversation, I summarized the Carolina Way as something like this...

- Success on the court
- Good sportsmanship
- Success in the classroom
- Professional development toward pro career
- Personal development toward creating good people
- High ethical actions by staff in building/maintaining the program
- Program is a positive influence on the community

I think most Carolina fans still want this, although there is a recognition that it will look significantly different than it did during Coach Smith's time in charge of the program. Of course, there are fans who only care about wins and championships, but those fans existed during Coach Smith's tenure, as well.

I would hope that when we hire our next coach that continuing these things is made a central part of the hiring process, along with an emphasis that the Carolina Family runs deep and that the next coach should have a plan to engage our basketball alums in a meaningful way.

I believe that a new - outside the family - hire can continue these things in an acceptable way while leading the program into the next era of college basketball. I think that the above ideas will look significantly different in the modern era than they did under Coach Smith and even a bit different than they did under Roy. However, i do think they're able to be continued even in the modern era.

I do understand your trepidation concerning the current leadership making the hire. That's where I hope that Roy and the Carolina Family can be ok with the idea that we are very likely at a point of going outside the family for the next coach and can be a force that can push the PTB toward hiring someone who will attempt to continue the Carolina Way and will continue to support the Carolina Family. If so, my hope is that we can continue to see the Carolina Way continue on for decades more in Chapel Hill.
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If I believed that kind of integrity was at the top these days I'd agree 100%. Unfortunately, I see little to none in UNC Administration at this moment.

BTW...I'd consider Greg Popovich as part of the Carolina coaching family and even Steve Kerr -- we only need someone for a few years until Marcus Paige (who I believe is too smart not to be a great coach) is ready. Steve Robinson would work too though I guess they pissed him off by passing over him?
 
donbosco said:
If I believed that kind of integrity was at the top these days I'd agree 100%. Unfortunately, I see little to none in UNC Administration at this moment.

BTW...I'd consider Greg Popovich as part of the Carolina coaching family and even Steve Kerr -- we only need someone for a few years until Marcus Paige (who I believe is too smart not to be a great coach) is ready. Steve Robinson would work too though I guess they pissed him off by passing over him?
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I don’t know if I can go as far as Kerr but definitely Pop. Heck, Pop used to attend Coach Smith’s coaching clinics.
 
LeoBloom said:
I don’t know if I can go as far as Kerr but definitely Pop. Heck, Pop used to attend Coach Smith’s coaching clinics.
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The Basketball School might be an acceptable connection as well. Bill Robinson coaches Milligan College (Div III) and has worked there for 20 years or so. I'm not suggesting him but I have no idea who has been working there otherwise over the past years who would/could be schooled in Smithian Philosophy.

BTW, Robinson wrote a book about the school that I hope I can read sooner rather than later.

CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL: Robinson, Bill, Publishers, Hemingway: 9781965222690: Amazon.com: Books

CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL [Robinson, Bill, Publishers, Hemingway] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL
www.amazon.com
 
donbosco said:
The Basketball School might be an acceptable connection as well. Bill Robinson coaches Milligan College (Div III) and has worked there for 20 years or so. I'm not suggesting him but I have no idea who has been working there otherwise over the past years who would/could be schooled in Smithian Philosophy.

BTW, Robinson wrote a book about the school that I hope I can read sooner rather than later.

CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL: Robinson, Bill, Publishers, Hemingway: 9781965222690: Amazon.com: Books

CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL [Robinson, Bill, Publishers, Hemingway] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. CAROLINA BASKETBALL SCHOOL
www.amazon.com
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Very cool. Thanks for sharing.
 
donbosco said:
If I believed that kind of integrity was at the top these days I'd agree 100%. Unfortunately, I see little to none in UNC Administration at this moment.

BTW...I'd consider Greg Popovich as part of the Carolina coaching family and even Steve Kerr -- we only need someone for a few years until Marcus Paige (who I believe is too smart not to be a great coach) is ready. Steve Robinson would work too though I guess they pissed him off by passing over him?
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I love Marcus but he doesnt appear to be helping much on the current staff.
 
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
I think theres some people you have to approach to see if there's any interest - Brad Stevens is definitely one of those people - make them say no before you move on
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I agree with this sentiment...but i also think we'll only need to invest about 10 minutes into Stevens before we move on.
 
wmheel1287 said:
I love Marcus but he doesnt appear to be helping much on the current staff.
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Much like Hubert while on Roy's staff, I don't think we can make any reasonable statements about Marcus' ability to be a quality high-major coach. We'd only know that once he goes out there and leads a team or two at lower levels and either succeeds or fails.
 
SnoopRob said:
Much like Hubert while on Roy's staff, I don't think we can make any reasonable statements about Marcus' ability to be a quality high-major coach. We'd only know that once he goes out there and leads a team or two at lower levels and either succeeds or fails.
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I hear ya but I would say it is more about who else has ever tried to hire them. As an example, Mike Fox pushed Scott Forbes in thr same way that Roy did Hubert. However, Forbes had already turned down at least 3 head coaching jobs at other schools to remain at Carolina. So, there was at least a consensus out there that he was head coach material. Was anyone making overtures to Coach Davis when he was an assistant?
 
Eh, Penn State wanted Bill Guthridge. Gut was not a successful head coach. Admittedly there was a long gap between those two events, but I'm not sure "other schools are looking to hire the guy" is an informative data point when most schools do not hire good coaches.
 
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.
 
wmheel1287 said:
I hear ya but I would say it is more about who else has ever tried to hire them. As an example, Mike Fox pushed Scott Forbes in thr same way that Roy did Hubert. However, Forbes had already turned down at least 3 head coaching jobs at other schools to remain at Carolina. So, there was at least a consensus out there that he was head coach material. Was anyone making overtures to Coach Davis when he was an assistant?
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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.
 
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