UNC basketball can stay with ‘Carolina Way’ while shifting family structure | Baxley
· Yahoo Sports
“The Carolina Way” is a three-prong philosophy devised by legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith.
Play hard. Play smart. Play together.
Visit newsbetting.bond for more information.
It's a phrase that can be found throughout the Tar Heels’ basketball facilities, including the arena named after the coach who helped create one of the greatest programs in the sport.
Point to the passer. Stand and clap when a teammate checks out of the game and returns to the bench. Stay committed to the process that ultimately paves the path toward the desired destination and result. For nearly seven decades, Smith’s commitment to “The Carolina Way” created and connected the “Carolina Family,” a seemingly-endless thread of players and coaches forever entwined in a lasting legacy.
Smith passed the torch to assistant coach Bill Guthridge. Matt Doherty, a 1982 national championship player for Smith, took over after Guthridge. Roy Williams, a longtime assistant under Smith, returned from Kansas to save the program and won three national championships.
And Williams hand picked Hubert Davis, a former Tar Heel and nine-year assistant coach, to continue the family tradition. That line of succession was severed on Tuesday, March 24, when UNC announced it was making a “leadership change” following Davis’ fifth season as the program's leader.
“This was not an easy decision because of Hubert’s tremendous character and all he has given to the program,” UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham said in a school-issued statement.
“But we must move forward in a way that allows our team to compete more consistently at an elite level.”
The Tar Heels can continue to carry on the tradition of “The Carolina Way,” but it’ll be moving in a new way with a change to the family dynamics.
There shouldn’t be a complete detachment from the family approach and mentality that made UNC what it is today. Nostalgia and history are important. They tie together generations and keep memories alive of those who deserve to be remembered.
But if you’re always looking back, it’s hard to keep your eyes forward and accomplish anything in the future. There are various routes to get where you want to go and the Tar Heels needed to break away from the family plan.
An inability to adapt in a different era contributed to inconsistency in Chapel Hill. In a different time, Davis’ accomplishments might have been good enough to give him more time with the Tar Heels.
The 55-year-old coach won 69.8% of his games, raised an ACC regular-season championship trophy and took the Tar Heels to a national championship game. He became the first coach in ACC history to win 20 games in each of his first five seasons and led UNC to March Madness appearances in four of them.
Davis is a good man and good coach, who produced more good memories than bad for the Tar Heels and their fans, including two all-timers in 2022 at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Final Four. He beat Kansas, Kentucky and Duke this season, with two of those wins — including the last-second victory against the Blue Devils — contributing to an 18-0 home record, the best mark in program history.
But the Tar Heels struggled on the road with a 6-9 record and couldn’t find their footing following Caleb Wilson’s season-ending injury, finishing the year on a three-game losing streak for the first time since 1970.
Every flaw was exposed in Davis’ final game as UNC’s leader, with the Tar Heels blowing a 19-point lead in the second half of an overtime loss to VCU in the NCAA Tournament. It was the worst first-round collapse in March Madness history. After freezing during the final minutes, Davis had a press conference performance that had become all too common after losses. The short responses, along with a lack of clarity and accountability, certainly didn't help his cause.
One game didn’t lead to this decision. For the most part, this season was considered a good one for the Tar Heels despite the injuries. But good ain’t good enough in Chapel Hill, where football wants to be serious but basketball needs to be serious, and is always taken seriously.
It’s sad that it didn’t work out in the end. The fairy tale book was almost complete in 2022, but UNC couldn’t close the final chapter against Kansas after being up 16 in the second half on the final Monday night of the season.
It’d be hard to find someone who loves UNC more than Davis, whose blood runs Carolina blue. He celebrated the connection to the program’s past by carrying the legacy of its former players and coaches onto the court with him for every practice and game.
In an era where coaches are consistently rocking quarter-zips, Davis often wore a suit. He displayed a “DES” pin on one lapel and “24” on the other lapel for every game this season to honor Dean Smith and Walter Davis, his late uncle and a Naismith Hall of Famer whose No. 24 jersey hangs in the rafters at the Smith Center.
But UNC commands consistency worthy of its past, and all too often the Tar Heels have looked at their brand as their superpower instead of backing that brand with an adaptable approach to maximize their magnetic pull in the transfer portal and NIL era.
It’s been nearly five years since Davis was introduced as UNC’s coach on April 6, 2021, during a press conference on Roy Williams Court inside the Smith Center.
Former chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said it was a moment that connected the program’s “storied past” to an “exciting future.” On that day, Davis said he “always wanted to be at Carolina” and referred to UNC as “the standard" on and off the court.
“I wanted this job. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach. I just have always wanted to be a head coach only here,” Davis added. “I’ve always wanted to walk the same road, the same path as Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams.”
He walked it well at times, but now he’ll have to find another way.
In a social media post confirming his departure, Davis expressed his desire and “goal to coach again in the very near future.” That’s something that would surely please Coach Smith and should make Coach Williams proud.
Davis can keep “The Carolina Way” with him wherever he goes next and he’ll represent it in the right way, just as he did in Chapel Hill. Still, it was time for UNC to create a new way forward. The next coach can build on “The Carolina Way” and the core principles under Smith that took the program to new heights.
But it’s clear the Tar Heels needed to reshape the family structure, with hopes of getting back to that elite level and staying there.
Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them to [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball taking 'Carolina Way' another way with change to family plan