2025 - 2026 Coaching Carousel

[The_Banker]

St Mary’s head coach Porter Moser.

 

[WichitaSooner]

St Mary’s head coach Porter Moser.

Damn I wish we were getting Bennett.

 

[WaymanFan]

Translation: They're cutting ties with Davis. Three of their four head coaches since Dean Smith retired were not guys that were coveted (or even close) by powerhouse programs. The school seems to have some fascination with making sure their head coach is a "North Carolina guy". My guess is they will finally break from that tradition and hire a head coach whose school is still playing right now. In all seriousness, Brady Manek may have bought Davis an extra year or two.

 

[CoachTalk]

Translation: They're cutting ties with Davis. Three of their four head coaches since Dean Smith retired were not guys that were coveted (or even close) by powerhouse programs. The school seems to have some fascination with making sure their head coach is a "North Carolina guy". My guess is they will finally break from that tradition and hire a head coach whose school is still playing right now. In all seriousness, Brady Manek may have bought Davis an extra year or two.

He knows it. Dude just looks deflated and beat down.

 

[AnotherSoonerInTX]

Translation: They're cutting ties with Davis. Three of their four head coaches since Dean Smith retired were not guys that were coveted (or even close) by powerhouse programs. The school seems to have some fascination with making sure their head coach is a "North Carolina guy". My guess is they will finally break from that tradition and hire a head coach whose school is still playing right now. In all seriousness, Brady Manek may have bought Davis an extra year or two.

They've kept it within the family since 1952. As a result, their coaches have taken a hometown discount in salary and the buyout is lower than ours.

This will be new territory for them.

 

[WaymanFan]

They've kept it within the family since 1952. As a result, their coaches have taken a hometown discount in salary and the buyout is lower than ours.

This will be new territory for them.

I wonder if they would have kept it in the family had Dean Smith not all but begged Roy Williams to leave Kansas after Matt Doherty was fired. I'm just glad the OU leaders didn't apply that logic in football through the years. Yes, Bud Wilkinson was an assistant at OU (for one year) prior to becoming the head coach, but that was under Jim Tatum who had no ties to OU. Barry was an OU assistant for several years, but came here under the direction of Jim Mackenzie who had no OU ties. Bob Stoops simply had no OU ties serving under the likes of Haden Fry and Steve Spurrier...and then there was John Blake .

 

[WTSooner]

Bob Stoops simply had no OU ties serving under the likes of Haden Fry and Steve Spurrier...

Bill Snyder

 

[WaymanFan]

Bill Snyder

Yes, I should have included him, but he was also under the Hayden Fry coaching tree. None of these guys had any ties to OU, but it didn't stop OU from hiring them. Steve Owens tried to change that mentality during his brief time calling the shots in the mid-1990s. He hired both John Blake and Sherri Coale a short time apart wanting to prove that you didn't need to leave the Sooner State to find great head coaches.

In fairness, OU did try this at least one other time in football. I don't remember if it was right after Wilkinson retired or two years later after Gomer Jones stepped down, but OU made a serious run at Darrel Royal, but he was obviously entrenched at Texas.

Back to hoops, if I had to make a prediction who NC will try to hire, I'll go with Dusty May. He at least has plenty of ties to the southeast coast.

And this just popped up on ESPN's website...

Sources: UNC, Davis discussing future after tournament loss

UNC officials are in discussions with coach Hubert Davis about the coach's future after another first-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

www.espn.com

 

[AnotherSoonerInTX]

I wonder if they would have kept it in the family had Dean Smith not all but begged Roy Williams to leave Kansas after Matt Doherty was fired. I'm just glad the OU leaders didn't apply that logic in football through the years. Yes, Bud Wilkinson was an assistant at OU (for one year) prior to becoming the head coach, but that was under Jim Tatum who had no ties to OU. Barry was an OU assistant for several years, but came here under the direction of Jim Mackenzie who had no OU ties. Bob Stoops simply had no OU ties serving under the likes of Haden Fry and Steve Spurrier...and then there was John Blake .

OU football has proven that the "family" can get stale after a generation or two. The Jim Mackenzie cycle lasted from 1966-1994, then again from 1996-1998 (Mackenzie, Fairbanks, Switzer, Gibbs, Blake). After Blake we needed new blood, and Joe C. went out and got it. We're not quite to 30 years of the Bob Stoops cycle, 1999-present (Stoops, Riley, Venables). This time last year, a lot of us were having our doubts about Brent. He had a good season and things are now looking up.

It's incredible that Carolina has kept this line going for 72 years going back to Frank McGuire.