After another disappointing end to a season, North Carolina fired head basketball coach Hubert Davis this week.
When he succeeded Roy Williams as head coach with the Tar Heels, his future looked very bright. Davis led UNC to the championship game in his first season, unfortunately losing a double-digit lead to Kansas in the final. But that was the peak of his time on the sidelines in Chapel Hill. Davis never made it farther than the Sweet 16 in his next four seasons. And the two first-round exits in the last two seasons were too much to bear for the university.
North Carolina let Davis twist in the wind for a few days after their loss to VCU in the first round of this year’s tournament before ultimately deciding to move in another direction. And while some thought that might have been unfair to the Tar Heels coach, it was nothing compared to what one ACC colleague did to kick him while he was down.
College basketball reporter Jeff Goodman reported that one ACC head coach was sorry to see Davis go because he was so easy to coach against.
“I had really hoped he was the coach forever. No one in the ACC was scared of him. I’m worried that they hire someone really good now because if you get a big-time guy at UNC, they could be right there with Duke again,” the coach said.
One ACC head coach to me on Hubert Davis’ departure:
“I had really hoped he was the coach forever. No one in the ACC was scared of him. I’m worried that they hire someone really good now because if you get a big-time guy at UNC, they could be right there with Duke again.”
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 25, 2026
ESPN analyst and fellow member of the coaching fraternity Fran Fraschilla was unimpressed by the anonymous low blow, calling the coach an “ass-hat” for not being brave enough to put his name to it and saying he deserves “bad coaching karma on him.”
Assuming this is an accurate quote and no reason to think it is not. This leaves one of 17 other head coaches. That coach is an ass-hat. I wish bad coaching karma on him. https://t.co/1altjN2wQo
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) March 25, 2026
It is an incredibly lame move by whoever this coach is to not only attack Hubert Davis when he is at his lowest, but also to do so without putting his name on it. That coach might find himself in the very same position someday and probably wouldn’t appreciate being slammed anonymously by a colleague. It’s easy to see why someone as respected in the sport as Fran Fraschilla would see it as a major low blow.
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