Bubba Cunningham, Steve Newmark Start UNC’s Coaching Search

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With the Hubert Davis chapter now closed, Carolina basketball turns the page in search of its next leader. North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham and executive associate athletic director Steve Newmark are tasked with making that happen.

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UNC has contracted Turnkey ZRG, a talent recruitment and executive search firm with more than 25 years of experience across all levels of sports — from the NFL and NBA to the NCAA and power conference programs such as Texas and Michigan.

“When a job like this comes open, there are so many requests, and you really want to get back to people and have respect for what they’re trying to bring to you,” Cunningham said in a school-released interview. “And so it does help us filter that — certainly we’ve talked about and we’ll continue to talk about potential candidates and a timeline in the entire process — but having an outside firm be a shelter or shield to really screen a lot of the calls that are coming will be very helpful for us.”

Chad Chatlos, who leads Turnkey’s intercollegiate athletics practice, will assist Cunningham and Newmark in the search. According to Turnkey’s website, Chatlos specializes in placing “Power 4 head football and basketball coaches, directors of athletics and conference commissioners,” and has led recent football coaching searches at South Carolina and Arizona, along with basketball searches at Michigan, Texas and Arizona.

Both Cunningham and Newmark acknowledged the priority is not to find next leader of the Tar Heels from within the program’s own lineage, something the program hasn’t seen in over 60 years. Rather, the priority is a winning coach.

“I think for us to do right by the Carolina family, we have to make sure we get the best candidate possible, the one who can lead us for years to come and have us competing for national championships on an annual basis,” Newmark said. 

With Newmark slated to officially take the reins from Cunningham — who will be moving into an advisory role — on July 1, it will be a joint effort.

“Ultimately, Bubba and I will lead the search process,” Newmark said. “But I think it really is important for us to make sure we take into consideration and solicit that wealth of knowledge that we have.

“And we have folks who are so tied into the college and professional basketball landscape, and it’s important to make sure we lean on them for input and support, but at the end of the day, ultimately, Bubba and I have to make sure we’re on the same page, and then we make a recommendation to the chancellor.”

As for when North Carolina fans can expect an announcement on the program’s next head coach, that timeline remains unclear.

“We want to get the right person,” Cunningham said. “And if it takes a couple of days, great. If it takes a little bit longer than that, then that’s what it’s going to have to take.”