CHAPEL HILL — Hubert Davis has had a specific vision for the assembling of his staff as new North Carolina basketball coach, with the linking of eras and meshing of mentors from Dean Smith to Bill Guthridge to Roy Williams his highest priority.
“You can’t do this job unless you’re a Carolina guy,” Davis said last week, upon his hiring as the successor to Williams. “It’s impossible. You can’t coach here, you can’t recruit here, you can’t work here, unless you have been here; unless you’ve experienced it, unless you have lived it.
“One of the things that I desperately want to do in terms of a staff is I want to connect the generations. I want to have guys on staff that played for Coach Smith, I want to have guys on staff that played for Coach Guthridge, and I want to have guys on staff that played for Coach Williams. I want to be able to connect all those, because I think bringing those coaches together is what makes Carolina Carolina.”
Those words echoed Thursday with Davis completing his first staff by hiring Jeff Lebo as assistant coach, promoting Sean May to assistant coach, retaining Brad Frederick as assistant coach, and hiring Jackie Manuel as director of player and team development — an arranging of all former Tar Heels players.
It marks the first time in program history that across the board North Carolina’s coach and three primary assistant coaches all played for the Tar Heels. Davis, the former standout guard at North Carolina from 1988-92 and 12-year NBA veteran, spent the last nine seasons working for Williams as an assistant coach.
“It was important for each of the assistants to have a connection with Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach (Matt) Doherty and Coach Williams,” Davis said Thursday in a statement. “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.”
Additionally, Eric Hoots (now director of basketball operations, formerly director of player development), Jonas Sahratian (director of strength and conditioning), and Doug Halverson (head athletic trainer) are remaining on with North Carolina.
Davis’s naming of his staff represented a shake-up of a certain structure that had been in place under Williams.
Steve Robinson, the former Florida State coach and the Tar Heels’ top assistant coach across Williams’ 18 years at the helm in Chapel Hill, wasn’t retained or re-assigned. Neither was Kendall Marshall, the former standout point guard, who served as North Carolina’s assistant director of basketball operations during the last three seasons.
Davis also reportedly pursued Monmouth coach King Rice, his former backcourt mate during their college playing days for Smith with the Tar Heels. Rice decided to stay put in his job at Monmouth, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference program he has led for 10 seasons.
As for the main components of Davis’s North Carolina staff:
• Lebo owns 28 years of experience in the college coaching ranks, including 20 as a head coach at Tennessee Tech (four seasons), Chattanooga (two seasons), Auburn (six seasons) and East Carolina (eight seasons). He compiled a record of 327-277, though never reached the NCAA Tournament at any of those stops along the way.
He played guard under Smith with the Tar Heels from 1985-89, producing 1,567 points and 580 assists, and shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point range and 83.8 percent on free throws. He ranks second only to Davis in North Carolina program history in career 3-point percentage, while checking in fifth all-time in career free throw percentage, seventh in successful 3-pointers and 10th in assists.
Lebo’s son Creighton was a member of the Tar Heels this past season as a freshman walk-on.
• May has spent the last six seasons on Williams’ staff at North Carolina, including the previous four as director of basketball operations.
He earned first-team All-America and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four honors in 2005, when North Carolina won its first of three NCAA championships under Williams. He went on to become a first-round NBA Draft choice.
May, the former power forward, starred at North Carolina from 2002-05. He’s one of seven Tar Heels to average a double-double — 15.8 points and 10 rebounds per game — across the course of their college careers. He capped his by supplying 26 points and 10 rebounds in the victory against Illinois that delivered the 2005 national title.
• Frederick just finished his eighth season on Williams’ staff at North Carolina, and his fourth as an assistant coach. He has been a part of college coaching staffs during the last 22 seasons, and joined the Tar Heels after 14 seasons at Vanderbilt.
In college, he played under Smith (1996-97 season) and Guthridge (1997-99 seasons). Then led by Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, North Carolina went 86-21 during Fredericks’ years as a Tar Heels player, winning Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles and advancing to the Final Four in 1997 and 1998.
• Manuel worked with the North Carolina women’s basketball program this past season, in a director of player personnel, development and recruiting operations capacity.
Previously, as a men’s assistant coach, he spent four years at UNC Greensboro (under former Tar Heels guard Wes Miller), one year at Valparaiso, and three seasons at UNC Wilmington (under former North Carolina assistant coach C.B. McGrath). Manuel also was assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tar Heels during the 2011-12 season.
Manuel played guard at North Carolina from 2001-05, and became one of the captains of Williams’ first NCAA championship team in 2004-05, when he started all 37 games as a senior while the Tar Heels went 33-4. He received All-ACC defensive team recognition twice.
“It’s all guys that have experienced this place and believe in it and have the passion and desire that all of us have for this university and this program and these kids and this community,” Davis said last week, about his plan for building his first staff.
“And so in assembling a staff, that is the No. 1 thing that I’m thinking about, you’ve got to be a Carolina guy. And I want an example from every one of the coaches that have meant so much to me, but has also meant so much to this program.”
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Times-News: ‘Got to be a Carolina guy’: Hubert Davis links eras, mentors with UNC coaching staff
