Hubert Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels had a built-in excuse coming into March Madness with star freshman Caleb Wilson missing the remainder of the season with consecutive hand injuries. Had they just come in and lost to VCU, even as the higher seed, in the first round, no one would’ve really batted an eye too heartily. Instead, Davis and UNC basketball made history by being on the wrong end of the biggest comeback in history in the first round of the NCAA Tournament — and something has to change.

Davis has drawn the ire of Tar Heels fans for several years now, but without movement from the athletic administration in Chapel Hill, and then his hot seat was seemingly less in focus after the Wilson injury. With the way the UNC head coach completely mismanaged and largely caused the choke job on Thursday in March Madness, though, the talk about firing Davis shouldn’t just restart; it should be definitive this time.

UNC can’t move forward with Hubert Davis after March disaster

Wherever you look throughout the overtime loss to VCU in which the Tar Heels blew an 19-point lead to the Rams, Davis’ fingerprints were all over how things went wrong. Obviously, having Wilson available would have helped, but it’s also reasonable to believe that the projected lottery pick’s absence wasn’t remotely the cause for this loss.

Maybe the most egregious thing we saw from Davis and UNC was the thin rotation used in an overtime game. Only one player on the bench played more than seven minutes for North Carolina in the loss, and that certainly appeared to have an immediate impact as stalwarts like Seth Trimble and Henri Veesaar simply looked gassed down the stretch.

But that wasn’t the only grievance that should be filed regarding Davis’ performance. I’d argue that his decision to get UNC out of its typical fast-paced style of play after they built their double-digit lead was even more costly than the lack of substitutions. As soon as the Heels tried to slow the game down and protect the lead, VCU was able to start chipping away because, shockingly enough, North Carolina is more effective when running their normal, up-and-down offense.

We can continue the list, though. Veesaar not knowing in overtime after missing his first free throw down two points that he needed to hit the rim with his miss. A 5-second violation and struggling to inbound the ball out of timeouts or in front of the Tar Heels bench. The general sloppiness and decision-making from this team in the clutch, which is always a reflection of coaching in my opinion. Suffice it to say it’s a long list.

At this point, though, this isn’t just a bad game from Davis. Too many times since he replaced Roy Williams in the 2021-22 season, we’ve seen North Carolina look underprepared, overwhelmed and overall looking poorly coached, especially in high-pressure environments and games.

North Carolina had a great season when Wilson was healthy, and even held strong for much of the time their star big was sidelined. But it’s also possible that Wilson masked the still-present deficiencies of Davis as a head coach, and simply pushed aside momentarily the fact that he might not be the right man for the job in Chapel Hill. And I’d argue that the loss to VCU is bad enough that the Tar Heels administration can’t afford to wait and see with Davis any longer.

How would UNC basketball replace Hubert Davis if he was fired?

Those who are in favor of Hubert Davis are going to be asking a quite pertinent question: Who would replace him if he was fired? And that’s a fair question to ask, because any new coaching hire comes with inherent risk. You never know how a coach is going to fit with a new program, and there’s never any guarantee that you’re hiring a better coach, especially considering that, despite the warranted criticism, Davis has enjoyed plenty of success at North Carolina.

With that being said, there are levels to what the Tar Heels could pursue. If they choose to truly keep it in the Tar Heel family again as they did with the transition from Williams to Davis, then it would stand to reason that longtime assistant Brad Frederick could get a look. He’s been with the UNC program since 2013, learned under Williams, and could be another bite at the apple at finding a successor who knows the ways of Roy Williams.

Outside of the family, the hottest potential coaching candidates include Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger, Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s, Richard Pitino at Xavier, and Vanderbilt’s Mark Byington all have the track record of success and the potential to leave for the right major opening, which you have to think would mean that UNC could earn some consideration. At the same time, it feels like there’s one perfect candidate who stands out: Mark Few.

Few, in essence, strikes the balance between “in the family” and being a proven outside hire who could bring about necessary change for UNC to return to glory. His dominance at Gonzaga needs no real introduction, as he’s taken them from pesky underdog to perennial national powerhouse. But more than that, he’s also a longtime close friend of Roy Williams, which would give some solace that he would have an inside track to still adopt the key parts of the Carolina way.

Of course, it’s a valid question of if North Carolina would be able to lure Few away from Spokane. That’s also the case with the other top candidates at their respective jobs. And in that case, then you really do have to consider the question of how the Tar Heels would feel confident they improved from Davis in hiring his potential replacement.

After a historic NCAA Tournament loss that falls largely on Davis’ shoulders, however, that still might be a risk worth taking. North Carolina should have national championship potential every season. Maybe this team did with Wilson because of his singular talent. But with Davis at the helm, that’s so rarely felt like the case, and with how much of that is blatantly his fault, that can’t stand much longer.