Kenny Smith was thrown out as a possibility to be the next head basketball coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. While there has been speculation about who will be next up in Chapel Hill, the ESPN host and former NBA champion has no interest.
Hubert Davis was fired after No. 6 seed North Carolina blew a 19-point lead in an 82-78 loss to No. 11 seed VCU in the opening round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. The successor of Roy Williams posted a 125-54 record over the past five seasons.
How Smith's name came up was during Wednesday’s episode of ESPN's First Take. Stephen A. Smith suggested that North Carolina should hire “The Jet,” despite having no coaching experience under his belt. "I believe that Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith is that dude,” Smith said. “You don’t even think about hiring another coach, you hire Kenny Smith. I believe he can recruit.”
During Thursday night's tournament coverage on CBS, Nate Burleson asked Smith directly about being linked to UNC and a possible return to his alma mater. “We can talk about North Carolina,” Smith said. “But that vacancy... I thought that was honestly disrespectful.”
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So who's on the short list of candidates? The Tar Heels are in a position to take a step forward on their journey with Davis headed out. But they can't miss, and the next coach should want to spend the rest of their career in Chapel Hill. A few names being floated out there are Florida's Todd Golden, Alabama's Nate Oats and Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger.
Whichever direction UNC goes, the next head coach walks into a situation to compete with the best in the country with resources.
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