UNC coaching search: Incoming AD Steve Newmark recaps timeline that led to Hubert Davis firing

Multiple days spanned between North Carolina‘s loss to VCU in the NCAA Tournament and the firing of Hubert Davis. For folks in Chapel Hill, the process probably felt even longer. Davis is out after five seasons with the program. Incoming athletic director Steve Newmark now has an incredibly important hire on his hands, needing to get the program back to an elite level.

But before officially moving to the next stage, Newmark took some time to recap the timeline of firing Daivs. Plenty were up in arms on Thursday and into Friday morning over the VCU result. Newmark did not want to make a rash decision, instead holding meetings with Davis and Bubba Cunningham. Once UNC’s women’s team played its NCAA Tournament game on Sunday, the ball really began to roll.

“I think one of the things Bubba and I discussed was when you’re looking to evaluate a season, it’s not judged on one game,” Newmark said. “But you also don’t try to make emotional, rash decisions so soon after something that’s so raw. We knew the team wasn’t returning until Friday. We continued our dialogue but waited until Saturday, and then Bubba met with Hubert to understand where his head was, what he was thinking. They had, I think, a productive discussion at the time.

“Then, Bubba and I met with the chancellor after the women’s game on Sunday. Bubba then interacted with Hubert again to get a sense of what Hubert’s thoughts were on how to move forward. Once those were conveyed back to Bubba on Monday, we then met with the chancellor this afternoon and ultimately, met with Hubert after that to convey the decision.”

Carolina was trending in the right direction under Davis this season. Star true freshman Caleb Wilson was playing up to his Five-Star Plus+ potential, highlighted by a win over Duke at the Dean Dome. However, the year’s trajectory began going down when Wilson injured himself. And right before he was supposed to come back, a broken thumb meant his lone campaign at UNC was over.

Nine games played without Wilson, four of which were losses. Three of the closed things out, beginning with Duke at Cameron Indoor in the regular season finale. North Carolina then got bounced early in the ACC Tournament by Clemson. Exactly one week later, the VCU loss took place, which proved to be the final straw for Davis.