{"id":682291,"date":"2026-03-27T15:11:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/682291\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:11:35","slug":"chicago-bulls-hc-billy-donovan-addresses-potentially-leaving-for-unc-tar-heels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/682291\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bulls HC Billy Donovan Addresses Potentially Leaving for UNC Tar Heels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The North Carolina Tar Heels<\/a> looked to pro sports two years ago when they needed to find a new head coach for the football program. Now that they are in the market for a men\u2019s basketball coach, the same approach could be used with someone poached from the NBA.<\/p>\n

Amid reports that he\u2019s an option under consideration in the Tar Heels coaching search, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan didn\u2019t deny that he\u2019d have interest in the North Carolina coaching job. For now, though, he\u2019s focused on his role in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main focus is on these guys and this new team. I understand that there\u2019s stuff out there, and I understand that there is going to be certain speculation. But, I have to concentrate on this group, and really, my focus is on what we\u2019re doing here in Chicago, having a game tonight, and traveling to go and play in a back-to-back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago Bulls HC Billy Donovan on potential interest in being considered as part of the North Carolina Tar Heels coaching search (H\/T The Athletic<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Related: Latest on North Carolina Tar Heels Coaching Search<\/a><\/p>\n

Donovan, who turns 61 in May, was once one of the best coaches in college basketball. He won back-to-back national championships with the Florida Gators with six regular-season SEC titles and four Final Four appearances.<\/p>\n

After posting a 467-186 record (.715 winning percentage) at Florida, Donovan made the jump to the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the 2015-16 NBA season. He posted a .608 winning percentage across five seasons with the franchise, but only had an 18-23 record in the NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0North Carolina Tar Heels Coaching Candidates<\/a><\/p>\n

One thing worth noting is that the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> reported there were rumblings around the NBA that Donovan might step down as Chicago\u2019s head coach and then take a year off. Instead, he could decide to return to college basketball for the first time in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

It would be a bit of a risk for both sides. Donovan was a men\u2019s college basketball coach well before the NIL era and he won national championships when future NBA stars like Joakim Noah and Al Horford stayed for multiple seasons.<\/p>\n

Donovan wasn\u2019t the only one in the NBA under consideration. North Carolina reportedly had interest in Boston Celtics executive Brad Stevens, but he\u2019s opted to remain in his current role<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tMatt Johnson is Senior Editor of NFL and College Football for Sportsnaut. His work, including weekly NFL and college … More about Matt Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The North Carolina Tar Heels looked to pro sports two years ago when they needed to find a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6,1770],"class_list":{"0":"post-682291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-north-carolina-tar-heels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116301783634781642","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}