Bubba Cunningham: UNC Not Using a Search Committee or Firm

AD and chancellor will conduct the search

UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham met with the media to discuss the basketball coaching search after head coach Roy Williams announced his retirement.

"Right now, I believe we've got the best job in college basketball,” he said. “This job doesn't come open very often, and we need to spend a great deal of time thinking about who is the right person right now. I do think that, you know, the often-used word is, 'fit.' I think that is part of it, and I think time and circumstance is all part of that as well. The history and tradition here is winning.”

The last three times the coaching job has been open, following the retirements of Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge and the dismissal of Matt Doherty, keeping the job with a member of the Carolina “family” was a priority. Cunningham moved away from that in his comments.

“We've had it in the family for a long period of time, and that is important, but it's not the only factor in trying to make a decision like this,” he said. “At this point, we are not going to have a search committee, it's going to be myself and the chancellor doing all of the work and the research and attempting to identify candidates that we think makes sense for the university at this point. Then, we'll make recommendations to our board of trustees. That doesn't mean we're not going to have all kinds of help from outside. There's a number of people, a number of Carolina people that are in the basketball business, that I have tremendous respect for. I've certainly talked to many of them already, so understanding the basketball landscape in general, Carolina specifically, and relying on those folks, many of which played here, that's who I'll be relying on for information and insight. Ultimately, the chancellor will make that recommendation to the board."