On Friday, head coach Tommy Lloyd announced he’d agreed to a contract extension with Arizona, ending any speculation of his connection to North Carolina‘s opening. During an appearance on the CBS Sports Network, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein revealed who UNC will target next with Lloyd out of the picture.
“Moving down its list is going to include the guy that Tommy Lloyd is coaching against on Saturday: Michigan head coach Dusty May,” Rothstein said. “I have talked to Warde Manuel three times in the last week, Michigan’s athletic director, he has said every single time, ‘We are going to do everything we have to do to retain Dusty May as head coach.’ And, talking to a lot of people close to Dusty May, he’s not really that interested in going to a fish bowl like North Carolina.
“Then, we look at Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan. I have been told that Billy Donovan will not entertain a conversation with North Carolina until after the Chicago Bulls’ season is over on April 12, out of respect for the Chicago Bulls. With that said, Billy Donovan is not going to be ready to get on a Zoom necessarily on April 13 at 9 a.m. He’s going to process the Bulls’ season and could also entertain other NBA head coaching opportunities.”
Lloyd, May and Donovan have been the three names repeatedly tied to UNC’s opening at head coach. However, Rothstein believes UNC has other coaches it’ll reach out to if it’s unable to land one of its initial three candidates.
“I would expect names like Texas Tech‘s Grant McCasland, Vanderbilt‘s Mark Byington, and also Iowa‘s Ben McCollum to be on that list,” Rothstein said. “McCollum is in the first year of his contract and the AD at Iowa has told me that they plan to sign him to a contract extension. He has publicly said that he would like to be the head coach at Iowa for a long time.
“Mark Byington and Grant McCasland both have buyouts [worth] $10 million or more. So, it’s going to be a very steep price tag.”
North Carolina already owes fired head coach Hubert Davis a $5.3 million buyout. Davis was the Tar Heels’ head coach for five seasons, leading the program to a 125-54 overall record and a 68-30 mark in conference play.
Under Davis, UNC won one regular-season ACC title, made four NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the national championship once. North Carolina finished as national runner-up after falling to Kansas. The Tar Heels suffered a first-round NCAA Tournament loss this season against VCU.