The Hubert Davis era is officially over in Chapel Hill. North Carolina announced the firing of their head coach on Tuesday after five seasons in charge. Somebody new will be leading the Tar Heels come the 2026-2027 season. One of the best jobs in college basketball is officially open.

Before fully moving on, a statement has come from Davis. He expressed his desire to continue coaching at North Carolina, even through the struggles. But he took time to thank a bunch of people involved with him being UNC’s head coach before opening the door for him to be on the sidelines again soon.

“Tonight, I was let go by the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill,” Davis said. “My desire was to continue to coach here. This opportunity has truly been such a blessing. I thank Jesus literally every day for giving me the opportunity, relationships and experiences with the kids and my staff. I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish together. My goal is to coach again in the very near future.”

Carolina was trending in the right direction under Davis this season. Star true freshman Caleb Wilson was playing up to his Five-Star Plus+ potential, highlighted by a win over Duke at the Dean Dome. However, the year’s trajectory began going down when Wilson injured himself. And right before he was supposed to come back, a broken thumb meant his lone campaign at UNC was over.

Nine games played without Wilson, four of which were losses. Three of the closed things out, beginning with Duke at Cameron Indoor in the regular season finale. North Carolina then got bounced early in the ACC Tournament by Clemson. Exactly one week later, the NCAA Tournament loss to VCU took place, which proved to be the final straw for Davis.

More on Hubert Davis, time at North Carolina

Davis took over at his alma mater in 2021 following Roy Williams’ retirement and led the program to a memorable run to the national championship. North Carolina not only defeated Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, but took down the Blue Devils in the Final Four. That was Krzyzewski’s final game before retirement.

However, the Tar Heels missed the NCAA Tournament entirely in 2023 and declined an NIT invitation. They then went 2023-24 to go 29-8 overall and win the ACC regular-season title en route to a Sweet Sixteen appearance.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report