A good story that has woven throughout 2025 is the fact that the Smith Center is aging and that officials are in the process of replacing it. Throughout the year, and undercurrent sweeping through that story was that while they were officially considering keeping the original building and renovating, the momentum seemed to be building toward moving the basketball team off campus.
Apparently, this momentum was so strong that it came as a surprise to a pretty influential group of people: the former players and coaches of the Tar Heels.
Last week, Inside Carolina was the first to report that UNC officials held a call with a big group of former players and coaches, and the insinuation was that the call didn’t exactly go like the officials thought it would. This week, Shelby Swanson from the News & Observer followed up on that with some excellent reporting where she was able to get more details out to the public. She even quoted Joel Berry II who was on the call, and noted that it appears that officials had already basically decided on going off-campus for the building:
“I honestly think they thought the call was going to go one way, and it went another way, opposite of what I’m sure they wanted,” Berry told The N&O. “I’m happy it did, if it did catch them by surprise. Because, you know what? Y’all didn’t bring us in. And it’s sad that we’re all sitting on here — legends sitting on that call — and this is the first time that anyone is hearing about this.”
This meeting follows a letter, also reported by Swanson and Inside Carolina, signed by multiple former players and influential alumni noting that they feel like they have been shut out of the process.
It’s not surprising that the officials had mostly settled on going off-campus. Between Bubba Cunningham’s new appointment after this year in helping with the Carolina North setup and the idea that a building out there would be part of a large development, it’s easy to see how officials just kind of assumed “the basketball program will get a palace that’ll bring in way more money than we can get now, surely everyone will be on board.”
The problem, of course, is that the legends on this call seemingly explained that Carolina Basketball is more than just the money that’s brought in. While the Smith Center is aging, it carries the names of two of the most legendary coaches in college basketball, was the home of four national championship teams, and has become the heartbeat of the program as a whole. You can replace a building but it’s really tough to replace a soul.
Part of that soul is who comes into the building to enjoy games, and something that’s off-campus takes away the magic of students walking from their dorms all around main campus and streaming to the building as the anticipation of a huge game builds. That magic was on display against Kansas, and it’s something that is going to have to be addressed in some form for the new building. Rich alumni may pay for suites and club seats, but the way you get rich alumni is letting your students experience the magic of going to a game.
The meeting with the players was enough to where officials are now extending the timeline on a decision. In the posts above, officials had noted they wanted a decision by the end of the year. Now as we are in the last week of 2025, officials have a more nebulous timeline. It’s clear that they are going to have to do a much better job of selling a Carolina North building to the folks who matter. That’s important as the money to build the place has to come from somewhere, and if there’s enough resistance they may be forced to reexamine their plans.
Whichever course this goes, it’ll be one that will seemingly last throughout much of 2026.