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North Carolina head basketball coach Hubert Davis has been criticized throughout his fourth season in Chapel Hill due to his team’s inconsistency on the court. The Tar Heels are 18-11 and in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
A postseason omission would be Hubert’s second in the last three years. Even if UNC is sitting home come March, the head coach expects to be the on the bench in 2025-26.
The Hubert Davis era got off to an incredible start as the Tar Heels made an unexpected run to the national title game. They’d fall by three points to Kansas in the final but entered the following season as the nation’s No. 1 team.
North Carolina then made unfortunate history when it missed out on the NCAA Tournament altogether despite the offseason hype. The roller coaster ride has continued since.
The Tar Heels landed a No. 1 seed last season but are again in danger of missing the postseason in 2025 due to mediocre play in a bad league. Midway through February, things looked bleak. The team was fresh off a 20-point loss to Clemson after having been manhandled by Duke two games prior.
At the time, UNC was 14-11. Many called for the head coach’s job. Hubert Davis vowed to make changes. He’s since found a way to inspire hope.
The Tar Heels are back on the bubble amid a four-game winning streak. They’ll continue their pursuit of a Big Dance invite down the final stretch of the regular season and into the ACC Tournament.
Should North Carolina miss out on March Madness, the criticisms will continue. Would it cost Davis his job? It doesn’t seem likely.
Hubert Davis quietly signed an extension in the offseason.
Details of that new agreement have just been unveiled. Somehow, the deal was kept under wraps for months.
NEW: Men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis agreed to contract extension with North Carolina over the summer. Was signed in December. New deal extends to 2030.
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) February 25, 2025
Brian Murphy of WRAL Sports Fan broke the news on Tuesday. An agreement was reportedly met in July of ’24. The contract was signed in December.
The new deal comes along with a pay raise, which likely stemmed from that postseason invite in the 2023-24 campaign. It runs through 2030. Buyout details have also been revealed.
The new agreement extends Davis through the 2029-30 season. His previous contract, signed in 2022, ran through the 2027-28 season and paid him $400,000 per season in base pay.
Under terms of the new deal, Davis will receive a base salary of $1.25 million per season. He will also receive $1.7 million in supplemental compensation this year. That figure rises by $100,000 each year of the contract.
If UNC were to fire Davis before the contract ends, it would owe him his base salary for each year remaining on the deal.
With that being said, it doesn’t seem Hubert Davis is going anywhere anytime soon. He’s already spoken on plans to increase his staff, and he just brought in a Top 10 recruiting class. His attention is now on the season at hand. The extension should allow him to block out the outside noise while easing concerns about his job security.