.png&width=36&height=36&type=webp)
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 919-962-1154
The 2025-26 season is Hubert Davis’ fifth as head coach at the University of North Carolina and his 14th on the coaching staff at his alma mater. He is the only Tar Heel head coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first four seasons.
Davis, 55 (turns 56 on May 17, 2026), has won National and ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors, a Final Four appearance, led the Tar Heels to 101 wins, a 56-24 record and 24 road wins in ACC regular-season play, a regular-season ACC title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only one other team has won more ACC games in the last four years.
Two of his players – RJ Davis and Armando Bacot – rank second and third, respectively, in all-time scoring Carolina history, set numerous records and earned national and All-ACC awards.
Carolina won its 100th game under Davis in the 2025 ACC Tournament, making him the third-fastest coach in UNC history and the sixth-fastest in ACC history to win 100 games. Only Duke’s Vic Bubas, UNC’s Roy Williams and Frank McGuire, Wake Forest’s Skip Prosser and Maryland’s Lefty Driesell reached 100 wins in fewer games than Davis (who won his 100th in 143 games).
Under Davis, Carolina is 8-3 in NCAA Tournament play, including wins against three national championship-winning coaches (Baylor’s Scott Drew, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo) and three other coaches who have taken teams to the Final Four (Marquette’s Shaka Smart, UCLA’s Mick Cronin and San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher).
Davis has led the Tar Heels to 14 wins over nationally-ranked opponents, including eight over top-10 teams (No. 4 Duke, No. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Duke in 2022; No. 6 Virginia in 2023; and No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 7 Duke and No. 9 Duke in 2024).
In 2024-25, the Tar Heels went 23-14 against the fifth-hardest schedule in the country, went .500 on the road and 13-7 overall in league play and won an NCAA Tournament game for the third time in his four seasons as head coach. Seven of the 14 losses came against teams seeded first or second in the NCAA Tournament. RJ Davis earned his third consecutive Dean Smith Award as Carolina’s MVP, broke all-time school records for three-pointers and free throw percentage and ACC records for games played and double-figure scoring games. Freshman Drake Powell became the 55th Tar Heel selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.
In 2023-24, Carolina won the ACC regular-season title with a 17-3 record, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Regional, where it advanced to the Sweet 16.
He was the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year. Davis also won ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors from the Associated Press, was the NABC’s District 3 Coach of the Year and a semifinalist for the 2024 Naismith National Coach of the Year, the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year and the Skip Prosser Man of the Year awards.
Davis was the fourth UNC head coach to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge and Williams.
Carolina went 8-2 on the road in the ACC in 2023-24, clinching sole possession of first place in the ACC with an 84-79 win at ninth-ranked Duke. It was the second time in his first three seasons the Tar Heels closed the regular season with a victory at Duke.
RJ Davis was a landslide winner in the voting for 2024 ACC Player of the Year, was a unanimous first-team All-America (Associated Press, USBWA, NABC and Sporting News) and became the first Tar Heel to win the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award. He set UNC’s single-season points record for a guard (784) and made the most three-pointers in a season by a Tar Heel (113).
Bacot earned his third All-ACC award in 2024 and third-team All-America honors (USBWA). He finished his career as UNC’s all-time leader in rebounds and double-doubles and second in scoring, is among the top 10 in ACC history in each of those categories and the top 10 in NCAA history in rebounds and double-doubles.
Coach Davis led the Tar Heels to the 2022 NCAA East Regional championship, a win at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, another win over the Blue Devils in a historic Final Four matchup and a berth in the national championship game in his first season as a head coach. He was rewarded with two National Coach-of-the-Year awards as UNC won 17 of its last 21 games and came within a few possessions of securing the program’s seventh NCAA Tournament title.
The 1992 Carolina graduate was named the 20th head coach of the UNC men’s basketball program on April 5, 2021, becoming the fourth former Tar Heel player to become head coach and the first Black head coach in Carolina men’s basketball history.
Davis played for Dean Smith at Carolina from 1988-92 and was an assistant coach on Roy Williams’ staff from 2012-21. He played a key role coaching, recruiting and scouting and was head coach of the UNC junior varsity program for six seasons from 2013-19.
“I told Hubert keep what’s good but don’t get stuck,” said Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham. “Change what needs to be changed to be modern and current. And I think that’s what Hubert brings — a current mentality to the historical tradition and success that we’ve had.”
Davis led the Tar Heels to a 29-10 record in his rookie season as head coach. UNC went 15-5 in the ACC to tie Notre Dame for second place, just a game out of first. The Tar Heels went 7-3 on the road in league play, including five straight victories at Clemson, Louisville, Virginia Tech, NC State and fourth-ranked Duke when UNC won 11 of 13 games to conclude the regular season.
The 29 wins were the second most by an individual in his first season as Carolina’s head coach and equaled the 10th most in NCAA history for a first-year head coach.
UNC entered the 2022 NCAA Tournament as an eight seed but played some of its best basketball in winning the East Regional. The Tar Heels had 51 assists on 62 field goals and sank 24 three-pointers in the first- and second-round wins over Marquette and Baylor, when they routed the Golden Eagles by 32 points and eliminated the defending NCAA champion Bears in overtime.
Carolina trailed UCLA with two minutes left in the Sweet 16 but went on an 8-0 run to beat the Bruins and overpowered Saint Peter’s, 69-49, in the regional final to send the Tar Heels to the Final Four for a record 21st time.
“I want every player that played for Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams, whether it’s in person, TV, highlights — I want them to be able to identify and go, ‘That’s the Carolina I went to,’” Davis said during the Final Four. “It’s really important for me that this program, with my own personality in my own shoes, looks exactly like the program that Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams ran.”
Davis became just the second individual to play for and serve as head coach of the same school in Final Four history; the fourth to take his team to the national championship game in his first season as a head coach; the seventh to play in and be a head coach in the Final Four; and the 10th to lead his team to the Final Four in his first season as a head coach.
The Tar Heels defeated Duke, 81-77, in the national semifinals, the first time the two great rivals ever played in the NCAA Tournament. The game featured a dozen ties and 18 lead changes, 13 of which came in the second half. Over the final 15:42, the margin for either team exceeded a single possession for a little more than just one minute. Carolina would score nine different times in the second half either to break a tie or reverse the lead, including field goals or free throws by all five Tar Heel starters.
“Hubert Davis may be the nicest person I know, and he’s the best father I’ve ever seen,” Jay Bilas said to the Washington Post in New Orleans. “He’s a perfect balance of cutthroat competitor and incredibly nice, thoughtful, empathetic person. He is an amazing person, and I’m not at all surprised knowing him that he is having this level of success this early.”
“I tell the parents, ‘I’m not your son’s parent, but every decision I make will be filtered through what is in the best interests for your son and what I think you would do for your son,’” says Davis. “So, the same way I care for my three children is the same way I care for the players. I just want things to work out for them. Being a father helps me relate to the players because that’s the way I coach.”
Davis led Carolina to wins in March and April over the No. 4 (twice), No. 9 and No. 11-ranked teams in the AP poll. He won the Big House Gaines Award (National Sports Media Association) and John McLendon Award (CollegeInsider.com) as National Coach of the Year.
Each of Carolina’s starters made significant contributions to the team’s success in Davis’s first season as head coach.
Bacot earned third-team All-America and first-team All-ACC honors, setting the single-season UNC record with 511 rebounds and tying David Robinson’s NCAA record with 31 double-doubles; Brady Manek was named the top transfer in the country, coming to UNC after four seasons at Oklahoma, led the ACC in three-point percentage and averaged more than 18 points in three games vs. Duke; RJ Davis and Caleb Love alternated at point and shooting guard – Davis had 12 assists in the NCAA first round and 30 points vs. Baylor in round two; Love scored 30 against UCLA then 28 in the Final Four win over Duke; and Leaky Black became a lockdown de-fender, earning ACC All-Defensive team honors.
“It shows how much he cares about us and cares about the game,” Love said during the NCAA Tournament. “We knew all along his passion, and we carried that with us. We feed off him and his energy. That’s why you see us playing so hard for him.”
“I just think Hubert is perfect for the job,” Williams told USA Today during the Final Four. “He’s the nicest person I’ve ever known but then he’s also fiercely competitive. When you put those two together, it’s a pretty good mix. It’s why I asked him to join our staff. But he hasn’t just had me as an influence. He had Coach (Dean) Smith, Don Nelson and Pat Riley from when he was a player. He’s got all of us but then found a way to make it his. This run, he’s put his fingerprints on it. It’s his team. He’s put Hubert Davis’s stamp on North Carolina basketball. He’s been absolutely sensational.”
“I’ve never known a finer person in my entire life, who has a switch he turns on and can be as competitive as anybody around,” says Williams. “He loves this program and has the same passion I do, and he’ll be better than me.”
In nine seasons on the bench with Williams, the Tar Heels played in eight NCAA Tournaments, advanced to the Final Four and national championship games in 2016 and 2017 and won the NCAA title in 2017. The Tar Heels went 228-95, including 107-60 in Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season play, winning the regular-season ACC title in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and the ACC Tournament title in 2016.
Carolina earned three No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in those nine seasons. The four-year run from 2016-19 was the best four-year NCAA seed average in UNC basketball history.
Davis helped coach 15 players who have played in the NBA, including 12 first-round draft picks – Cole Anthony, Tony Bradley, Reggie Bullock, P.J. Hairston, Justin Jackson, Brice Johnson, Cameron Johnson, Walker Kessler, Nassir Little, Drake Powell, Day’Ron Sharpe and Coby White.
Brice Johnson and Jackson were consensus first-team All-America and first-team All-ACC selections; Jackson was the 2017 ACC Player of the Year and Cameron Johnson earned first-team All-ACC honors.
Jackson and Cameron Johnson are among the top three-point scorers in Carolina history. Johnson transferred to UNC from Pittsburgh and blossomed into the 11th pick in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Davis also coached Marcus Paige, who earned second-team All-America and first-team All-ACC honors as a sophomore in 2014 and set the UNC career record with 299 three-pointers, and Joel Berry II, the 2017 Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Anthony set the ACC record for most points in a college debut and had the second-highest single-season scoring average by a Tar Heel freshman.
White set the UNC single-season record for most threes by a freshman and became the seventh pick in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, Davis worked for seven years with ESPN as an analyst and co-host of the College GameDay program.
Born in Winston-Salem, N.C., Davis grew up in Burke, Va., where he attended Lake Braddock High School, the same high school UNC and US Soccer star Mia Hamm attended. Davis was a high school football teammate of future Olympic hurdles gold medalist Allen Johnson.
Davis played in 137 games as a Tar Heel from 1988-92, during which UNC went 102-37, won the 1989 and 1991 ACC Tournaments and played in the 1991 Final Four. He scored 1,615 points, an average of 11.8 per game. He still holds the UNC record for career three-point percentage at .435 (197 of 453). He scored in double figures 80 times with 23 games scoring 20 or more points.
“In 1987-88, I went with Coach Smith into Hubert’s home,” says Williams, who was an assistant at UNC when Davis was being recruited. “Coach Smith said, ‘I don’t know if you’re ever going to be able to play here, Hubert, and I don’t want to do this.’ I got in the car with Coach, and I said, ‘Coach, I think he’ll play more than you think he will because I think he’s so competitive and so driven.’ Hubert told Coach Smith, ‘You’ll never know unless you give me a chance.’ Coach Smith a couple days later called him and said, ‘I listened to what you said and I’m going to offer you a scholarship to North Carolina.’ Hubert committed to Coach Smith right then.”
He scored in double figures in each of his last eight NCAA Tournament games, averaging 18.5 points in those games. That included 19 against Temple in the 1991 NCAA East Regional final and 25 against Kansas (coached by Williams) in the 1991 Final Four.
Davis averaged 21.4 points and earned second-team All-ACC honors as a senior. He scored in double figures in 32 of 33 games that season, including 20 games with 20 or more points and 30 or more in four games. He netted a career-high 35 points at Duke on March 8, 1992. That 35-point game was part of a seven-game stretch late in the season in which he averaged 28.7 points.
The New York Knicks selected Davis with the 20th pick in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft. He played 12 seasons in the NBA, scoring 5,583 points, an average of 8.2 per contest. He made 728 three-point field goals and enters the 2025-26 season second in NBA history in career three-point percentage at .441 behind only Steve Kerr.
Davis averaged double-figure scoring in four different seasons – a career-high 11.1 with Dallas in 1997-98 and with the Knicks in 1993-94 (11.0), 1994-95 (10.0) and 1995-96 (10.7).
He scored a career-high 32 points twice – as a second-year pro with the Knicks vs. Minnesota and in 2000 with Dallas against Seattle.
In 1993-94, he was fourth on the Knicks in scoring behind Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Charles Oakley as New York won 57 games and advanced to the NBA Finals, where they took Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Kenny Smith to seven games (Doc Rivers and Greg Anthony were also Knicks that season).
He shot 40 percent or better from three-point range in eight seasons, including 1999-2000, when he led the NBA with a career-best 49.1 percent as a Maverick.
Davis shot 80 percent or better from the free throw line nine times. He connected on 83.7 percent of his career free throw attempts.
Davis played for NBA head coaches Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Jim Cleamons, Leonard Hamilton, Doug Collins, Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown. His NBA teammates included Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Ewing, Michael Finley, Richard Hamilton, Michael Jordan, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Rivers.
“Hubert carved out a remarkable career in both longevity and achievement,” said Jeff Van Gundy when Davis was named head coach. “He will go down as one of the GREAT shooters of his era and had an underrated pick and roll game. Hubert was what you want in a player...dependable, reliable, trustworthy and his work ethic were second to none. Hubert’s character, basketball acumen and love of UNC will drive him in his quest to continue the long and storied championship tradition that he helped create as a player and as an assistant coach. I have no doubt that Hubert will be the next in line of Hall of Fame coaches from Chapel Hill with an NCAA championship in the near future.”
Hubert’s uncle, Walter, starred at UNC from 1973-77 and was a six-time NBA All-Star. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1978 with the Phoenix Suns, who retired his jersey number. Walter died in 2023, just six months prior to being elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Davis graduated from UNC in 1992 with a degree in criminal justice. He and his wife, Leslie, have three children – Elijah, Gracie and Micah. Elijah is in his second season as a member of the UNC basketball team after playing three seasons at the University of Lynchburg. Gracie is a junior at Carolina, and Micah is a freshman at the University of Mary Washington, where he is playing soccer.
The Davises are active members of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro community, participating in numerous civic endeavors, including their support of the Hargraves Community Center.
“Hubert and Leslie have been very intentional in not only meeting the needs of the kids but also the people in the community,” says John French, the recreation supervisor at Hargraves. “The Davises have touched so many lives at Hargraves. I could talk about them all day and still wouldn’t be able to give them all the flowers they deserve.”
