Nobody likes to “keep it in the family” quite like North Carolina — evidence being that the school hasn’t had a head men’s basketball coach who wasn’t previously a UNC player or assistant since Frank McGuire left in 1961. Every coach since, starting with Dean Smith, has had ties to the program.
The current coach, Roy Williams, is a North Carolina graduate and former Tar Heels assistant. So this pattern spans over 50 years.
Will it continue with UNC’s next hire?
It’s impossible to know for sure. But it’s something that must be considered when speculating on who might someday replace Williams — the Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer who is one of only six men’s basketball coaches in history to win at least three national championships. He’s won all three in the past 14 seasons. That’s one more, in that timespan, than Mike Krzyzewski, Billy Donovan and Jay Wright have won, and at least two more than everybody else.
Simply put, Williams has had a remarkable career — first at Kansas, then at his alma mater. But no career lasts forever. And when Williams ultimately retires, the UNC job will be highly sought after and have no shortage of high-profile candidates anxious to follow a legend.
Sometimes, as coaches get older, their programs slip and their retirement is expedited. But that’s clearly not the case with Williams. Yes, he’s 68 years old, but he’s averaged 30.7 wins the past three seasons, won a national championship, played for another and secured two ACC regular-season titles.
His Tar Heels are currently ranked eighth in most top 25s as the regular season began Tuesday, thanks to a freshman class featuring two five-star prospects (Nassir Little, Coby White). And another five-star prospect in the Class of 2019 (Armando Bacot) has already said he’ll enroll at North Carolina next year. In other words, things are great — and that’s why I doubt Williams has plans to retire in a year or two or even three.
Obviously, health concerns, and he’s had some before, can alter any person’s plans. But absence of that, it’s reasonable to assume Williams can and will coach well into his 70s just like fellow Hall of Famers Krzyzeski and Jim Boeheim — especially now that the NCAA cloud that hovered above UNC’s program for so long has been removed.
The oldest man to ever coach Division I basketball is Temple’s John Chaney. He was 74 when he retired. And though, Boeheim, who turns 74 in a couple weeks, is likely to break that record soon, the point remains the same, and the point is this: there seems to be a BIG difference between coaching at 70 and coaching at 75.
Lots of men have hit the first number, but literally nobody has hit the second — which is why discussing possible candidates to succeed Williams at North Carolina is easier than discussing possible candidates to succeed, say John Calipari at Kentucky. Calipari is likely to coach another decade; Williams almost certainly won’t.
When he steps away, here are some coaches who might make sense:
Jerry Stackhouse
Stackhouse, 43, was raised in North Carolina before starring for the Heels. The high-scoring wing was the Sports Illustrated Player of the Year in 1995, then the third pick of the 1995 NBA Draft. He played 18 seasons in the NBA and was an All-Star twice.
After retiring in 2013, Stackhouse got into coaching. He spent one season on the Raptors bench before taking over their G-League franchise — where he was named G-League Coach of the Year in 2017. He joined J.B. Bickerstaff’s staff in Memphis this year and is widely viewed as a future NBA head coach.
Billy Donovan
Donovan, 53, is a sure-bet future Hall of Famer thanks to a remarkable career featuring back-to-back national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007. In 18 seasons, he guided the Gators to four Final Fours and won SEC Coach of the Year honors three different times.
He’s now in his fourth season with the Thunder as their head coach, making the NBA Playoffs each of the past three seasons.
Wes Miller
Miller, 35, was a member of North Carolina’s 2005 National Championship team. He’s been the head coach at UNC Greensboro since 2011. In the past two seasons, he’s won back-to-back Southern Conference regular-season titles, averaged 26 wins and made the NCAA Tournament.
Jerod Haase
Haase, 44, spent nine years on Williams’ staff at UNC before becoming UAB’s coach in 2012.
After going 28-8 in Conference USA in what amounted to his final two seasons in Birmingham, Haase accepted the Stanford job in 2016 and is starting his third season with the Cardinal.
Kenny Smith
Smith, 53, played at North Carolina from 1983 to 1987, was a consensus first team All-American as a senior and then the sixth pick of the 1987 NBA Draft.
He played 10 seasons in the NBA and won two NBA Championships with the Rockets before transitioning into a role as one of the highest-profile basketball analysts on television with TNT.
In addition to the names listed above, some other coaches various sources mentioned as possible North Carolina candidates someday are Monmouth coach King Rice, UNC assistant Hubert Davis, Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg and Texas coach Shaka Smart.
Without knowing exactly when the UNC job will open, it’s difficult to know exactly where UNC might turn when it’s time to hire Williams’ replacement. Where will Miller’s career be then? Where will Haase’s career be then? Will Donovan still be in the NBA? If so, would UNC be willing to pay him enough to consider a return to college?
Lots of questions. Very few answers.
But I will say this: If, for whatever reason, North Carolina had to hire a coach today, and you put me in charge, I’d take a serious look at both Stackhouse and Smith.
I think either could be great.
Both have been so famous for so long that the attention this job places upon a coach wouldn’t faze them at all. Both understand the so-called “Carolina Way” because they lived it. Both are familiar with the grassroots scene. Both would have no issues recruiting. Stackhouse has already proven he can coach, and there are plenty of people, even NBA executives, who believe Smith could, too.
