When Hubert Davis took over for Roy Williams as head coach of the UNC men's basketball program, the future looked bright.
Davis' head coaching career started the way every coach dreams of: with a National Championship appearance. Outside of a Sweet 16 appearance two seasons later, North Carolina never played up to its historic standard.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Tar Heels made an extremely tough decision to fire Davis as head coach . This comes after UNC blew a 19-point, second half lead to VCU in both team's NCAA Tournament opener.
Davis led UNC to five straight 20-win seasons – and fielded some extremely talented rosters. RJ Davis and Armando Bacot anchored the 2022 National Championship game appearance, Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan led a top-seeded North Carolina squad two seasons later, while Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar highlighted the 2025-26 roster.
The Tar Heels strung together a couple big wins against quality opponents under Davis, but largely struggled. Just look at UNC's Quad 1 record during its 2024-25 campaign, which ended with a debatable NCAA Tournament entry.
Davis won 125 games at North Carolina – across just five seasons. Most programs salivate for this type of production, even that school in red from Raleigh.
After that magical 2021-222 campaign, though, the Tar Heels never played at a National Championship level. A historic program like UNC needs to be competing for titles, which is why hiring a coach outside the Carolina Family makes the most sense.
There will be a weird veil over Chapel Hill the next couple days, but Tar Heel Nation will quickly look to the future. Here's how social media reacted to Davis' firing on Tuesday night:
Hubert Davis is a good person.
UNC players thankful for Hubert Davis
On-camera reactions to Hubert Davis firing
UNC won games under Hubert Davis, but underperformed
Did Caleb Wilson's injury start Hubert Davis' downfall?
Hubert Davis always had good quotes.
Hubert Davis firing very similar to Mack Brown's
Was fundraising a reason for Hubert Davis' firing?
The best available job in college basketball.
A lasting impact on UNC basketball
Writing was on the wall long before the VCU loss.
Wouldn't have guessed this ending with previous highs.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Social media reacts to Hubert Davis firing

