UNC men's basketball news: Tar Heels to hire a GM, ACC coaching openings, awards watchlists

Early February is a time when college basketball teams want to be revving up for March Madness, but the North Carolina Tar Heels have been stuck in neutral for quite some time. This past Saturday's 87-70 loss at Duke highlighted all of the problems this team has been facing this season — lack of size, poor defense and rebounding, and unimaginative coaching. The final score actually made the game seem closer than it was, because it felt like the Blue Devils won this one by 30+.

Just as NFL teams sometimes get a bye week at just the right time, whether to give injured players time to heal or just regroup from a bad loss, the Heels have to be thankful that they get six off days before taking the court once again. Carolina-Duke games are more than just another date on the schedule. They're referendums on each program — where they are and where they're going. UNC can't like either, and so this week is offering an important period of reflection before a final month of the season in which the Heels will need to be seriously impressive just to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.

Even without any games played, there's still news of interest to Tar Heels fans, both from the program itself and its in-conference rivals. Let's dig in to the important nuggets of the week.

UNC to hire a basketball general manager

College athletics are rapidly evolving, and even the most storied programs need to change with the times or get left behind. The era of NIL has changed the game. For better? For worse? Honestly, it doesn't matter if you hope to field a competitive team.

Hubert Davis has been under fire this season not just for his in-game coaching, but for the way he has constructed UNC's roster. Carolina is without Armando Bacot for the first time since the 2018-19 season, and Davis was unable to secure an impact big in the transfer portal or through recruiting. Vanderbilt transfer Ven-Allen Lubin has been overmatched, returning junior Jalen Washington hasn't been able to fill Bacot's shoes, and freshman James Brown isn't yet ready for primetime.

All of this has resulted in a team that has a minimal post presence and is frequently at a rebounding disadvantage, and with an unacceptable record of 13-10, the results have spoken for themselves. Davis addressed the need for change in his weekly radio show on Monday, and his comments shine a light on just how much is required of a top-level college basketball coach today, a workload that seems untenable for just one person.

"I am going to increase the staff, and it's needed," Davis said. "I never would have thought in the four years that I took the job that 100% what is needed is a general manager. There's just so much stuff out there. I mention owner, GM, fundraiser, basketball coach. It's so much on the plate that it'll take you away from doing what's the most important thing, which is coaching basketball."

Davis also said in a bit of shocking candor, "The old model for Carolina basketball just doesn't work. It's not sustainable."

Carolina made news by hiring Bill Belichick in December to coach its football team, and Belichick brought longtime NFL executive Michael Lombardi with him to be the team's general manager. This is becoming more and more commonplace in the age of NIL, and if it helps Davis focus on coaching and allows the school to be more competitive for recruits and transfers, UNC fans will be all for it.

Buzz Peterson, who was part of the 1982 national title team (and Michael Jordan's former roommate), is rumored to be a top candidate for the position.

Another ACC head coaching job is opening up

Davis is certainly feeling the heat when it comes to his job status, as there's a sizeable contingent of people that want Carolina to move on from him at the conclusion of the season. That's unlikely to happen, but if the Heels miss the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, Davis will definitely enter next season on the hot seat.

Around the ACC, there are openings all over the place, though not because coaches have been fired. Three longtime coaches have stepped away of their own volition in the past year. First Virginia's Tony Bennett retired in October, just before the season started. Then Jim Larranaga abruptly retired in late December, just two years after leading Miami to the Final Four.

Those two legends will now be joined by Leonard Hamilton, who announced that he would be resigning from Florida State at the end of this season. Now in his 15th season with the Seminoles, Hamilton is the longest-tenured coach in the ACC, and it's interesting that the term "retirement" didn't come up in his announcement, leaving open the possibility that the 76-year-old could conceivably go on to coach somewhere else.

It doesn't take a forensic scientist to see that the departures of Bennett, Larranaga and Hamilton all had at least something to do with NIL and the modern college landscape, which shines Davis' decision to hire a general manager in an even better light. Combined, these three coaches had 44 years of experience at their ACC schools. Once Hamilton officially steps down, that will leave Clemson's Brad Brownell (15 years) as the only ACC coach with more than seven years at his current school. The conference sure has changed since the days of Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and the three coaches mentioned above.

RJ Davis and Ian Jackson make midseason awards watchlists

The Tar Heels have been struggling as a team, but two players did earn some individual recognition recently. RJ Davis, who won the Jerry West Award last year as the top shooting guard in the country, was named on Tuesday as one of the 10 finalists for the award this season.

Perhaps surprisingly, he didn't make the midseason watchlist for the Oscar Robertson Award, which is awarded to the top player in the country as voted on by the United States Basketball Writers Association. Tar Heel freshman Ian Jackson did though, joining favorites such as Auburn's Johni Broome, Duke's Cooper Flagg, and Rutgers freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. The list currently features 50 players, and will be cut down to a group of finalists in early March.

Davis and Jackson have been Carolina's leading scorers this season with 17.3 and 14.4 points per game respectively, though neither has been playing their best, especially lately. Davis is averaging 3.9 points less per game while shooting nine percentage points worse from three compared to last year, while Jackson has averaged less than 10 points per game in his last five after scoring 20 or more in six of the previous seven.

Both players will hope to get on track when UNC hosts Pitt on Saturday in a must-win contest.