The Tar Heels moved on from Davis on Tuesday following the program's first-round NCAA Tournament loss to VCU
By Brad Crawford Mar 25, 2026 at 11:53 am ET • 2 min read 
Getty Images Hubert Davis is out as North Carolina's basketball coach after the Tar Heels decided to move on from their leader this week following the program's NCAA Tournament loss to VCU. Mass reaction has ensued after the fifth-year coach who posted five consecutive 20-win seasons failed to deliver during March Madness after his team squandered a 19-point lead en route to an early exit.
Davis fueled the Tar Heels' run to a national championship game appearance during his first season with stars like Armando Bacot and RJ Davis and posted several big wins over Duke before failing to move past the NCAA Tournament's second weekend in the four years after that memorable leap. The Tar Heels have suffered consecutive first-round exits this past two seasons.
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Davis's son, Elijah, was one of the first to react to the Tar Heels' managerial decision, posting a photo of himself with his father on Instagram with a scribbled-out "NORTH CAROLINA" word mark across his jersey. Elijah Davis is a Chapel Hill, N.C. native and former walk-on who spent the first three seasons of his college career at Division III Lynchburg before joining his father with the Tar Heels.
He redshirted last season before playing sparingly during the 2025-26 campaign.
"right where we need to be. it's His plan and His plan only," Elijah Davis captioned the Instagram post.
Hubert Davis's son, Elijah, posted this photo Tuesday night on Instagram after his father's firing at North Carolina. Instagram Five-star freshman Caleb Wilson, the Tar Heels' leading scorer this season, broke his thumb during practice ahead of the ACC Tournament and missed the postseason. It was a fatal blow for a team that jumped out to a 24-6 overall record prior to fading down the stretch.
"Thank you for everything Coach Davis, one of the best men and coaches in my life," Wilson wrote Tuesday night on X.
Former Tar Heels starter and transfer Brady Manek, who was a key player on UNC's 2022 Final Four run, wrote that Davis "was the reason I came to Carolina" on Instagram, while Seth Trimble, a contributor on this season's team, posted a photo on social media surrounded by Davis and several assistant coaches, with "my dawgs" as the caption.
Per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, Davis was called to an emergency meeting with Bubba Cunningham, the outgoing AD, as well as incoming AD Steve Newmark on Tuesday night. It was then and there that Davis was informed he was being terminated. Soon thereafter, players and staff were summoned for the 9 p.m. meeting.
"This was not an easy decision because of Hubert's tremendous character and all he has given to the program, but we must move forward in a way that allows our team to compete more consistently at an elite level," Cunningham said in a statement.
For the first time in nearly eight decades, North Carolina is expected to go outside of the Tar Heels' family for its next hire, Norlander reports. After going 125-54 over his five seasons at the program, Davis released a statement following his dismissal:
"Tonight, I was let go by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. My desire was to continue to coach here. This opportunity has truly been such a blessing."
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