Heel turn: Davis fills staff with ex-UNC players

04/15/2021

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Joined ESPN.com in 2011
Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

Hubert Davis’ coaching staff at North Carolina has a familiar ring to it.

For the first time in UNC men’s basketball history, the head coach and the three top assistants are all former players for the Tar Heels.

Davis, who replaced Roy Williams after the Hall of Famer announced his retirement April 1, on Thursday named Sean May, Brad Frederick and Jeff Lebo as his assistants.

May, who was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2005 NCAA tournament, had been on Williams’ staff for the last six seasons, and Frederick also has been a longtime assistant with the program. Lebo, who was a teammate of Davis’ at UNC, had been the head coach at East Carolina from 2010 to ’17.

Jackie Manuel, another former North Carolina standout, is Davis’ director of player and team development.

“I wanted a staff that went to North Carolina and played at North Carolina,” Davis said in a statement. “I think you have a great opportunity to do this job well if you’ve experienced it as a player. It’s not the only way, of course, but given there are so many former players who are coaching, it’s a great way to build my first staff as the head coach.

“It was important for each of the assistants to have a connection with Coach [Dean] Smith, Coach [Bill] Guthridge, Coach [Matt] Doherty and Coach Williams. It connects each of the former head coaches’ personalities to our current team, which was a huge incentive for me in constructing this staff. Carolina Basketball is all of them, and I wanted a staff that had that diversity of experiences to give the most to our players.”

Steve Robinson, who spent 18 years with Williams at North Carolina, has not been retained, per the school’s release. Former North Carolina star Kendall Marshall, who had returned two years ago as a director of recruiting under Williams, also will not return.

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