UNC’s new men’s basketball coach, Hubert Davis, has completed his assistant coaching staff, which will be made up entirely of former UNC players (including Davis himself) for the first time in Carolina history.
Former UNC center-back and 2005 Final Four player Sean May will move from director of basketball operations to assistant coach. May has been working for Roy Williams staff for six years. Brad Frederick, a former player who played for both Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge, has been on Williams’ staff for eight to four years as a full-time assistant. Frederick will continue in this role.
However, there will be new assistants: Jeff Lebo, who played in North Carolina with Smith and has been coaching since 1990, even as head coach since 1998-2017 before resigning from Carolina of the United States. ‘East.
May’s teammate Jackie Manuel, who has been an assistant coach since 2011, most recently as a member of the UNC women’s basketball coaching staff as Courtney Banghart’s player personnel director. Manuel will be the director of staff for the players, the position of the staff just below a full coaching post. Both May and Manuel played with former UNC director Matt Doherty and Williams.
“I wanted a team that would go to North Carolina and play in North Carolina,” Davis said in a statement announcing the moves. “I think you have a great opportunity to do this job well if you’ve experienced it as a player. It’s not the only way, of course, but since there are so many former players training, it’s a good way to build my first staff as head coach It was important for each of the attendees to have a connection to Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach (Matt) Doherty and Coach Williams.Connect each of the personalities of the former head coaches with our current team, which was a great incentive for me in building that staff. Carolina basketball is all of them and I wanted a staff that would have that diversity of experiences to make the most of our players. “
Williams’ point guard Kendall Marshall, who has worked as a recruiter and assistant director of basketball operations since 2019, was not retained by Davis. Steve Robinson, who had been Williams’ top aide for 26 years, was also released.
“I also want to thank Steve Robinson and Kendall Marshall, who will not go ahead with us, for all they have done for Carolina Basketball,” Davis said. “Coach Rob came to Chapel Hill with Coach Williams and was an important part of every Tar Heel and national championship win over the last 18 years. I deeply appreciate everything he has done to help me growing as a coach and person during the nine years we spent together on the staff.
“I didn’t get a chance to coach Kendall, who is one of our best leading guards, but I’m proud to have finished the race again and started his coaching trip to Carolina. I wish Kendall and Steve nothing more than good days ahead. “
However, other staff members remain: Eric Hoots, who has been on Williams’ staff for 17 years as a key behind-the-scenes collaborator and, more recently, director of player development, will be promoted to chief operating officer. basketball. Jonas Sahratian, who has been working with Williams since 1999 in Kansas as a strength and conditioning coach, will also remain. Head athletic coach Doug Halverson has been on Williams ’staff since 2005 and will continue to play that role.
“Jeff, Sean, Brad and Jackie played for one or more of them and Hoots has been on UNC staff for 20 years. Each of the coaches and Jackie have played, coached or worked in college basketball for a long time. “But you also connect with the current generation of players. And that’s also very important,” Davis said.
“They’ve been part of national championships, ACC championships and the biggest rivalries in college basketball and are well positioned to recruit top players who thrive academically and athletically in Carolina, help us win at the highest level and hopefully things happen from the basketball and life “.
May has been the director of basketball operations for four years. May entered the NBA as a junior after earning honors in the MOP and leading the UNC to the 2005 national title. Injuries suffered his NBA career after he was ranked 13th overall at the time. Charlotte Bobcats.
May continued to play internationally until 2014 before Williams hired him as director of player development in the fall of 2015. He was promoted to director of basketball operations in 2017.
“The University of North Carolina means everything to me. I played here, I won a championship here, where I decided to learn the other side of basketball when I joined Coach Williams’ squad six years ago. Now I have the opportunity to do what I am passionate about, which is to teach the game of basketball and help our players achieve what my coaches brought me: an amazing experience.I am fortunate to have the opportunity to do so. -in the place I love, “May said at the launch.
“Coach Davis has been a role model and mentor for me for a long time. I’m excited to follow that path with Hubert and support his vision of where Carolina Basketball advanced. He has an incredible knowledge of the game, an amazing work ethic and he knows how he wants the program to run. He has played and worked here and he knows what it takes to be successful. “
Frederick has been a coach since 2000, when he joined the staff of former Williams assistant Kevin Stallings in Vanderbilt, where he remained for 14 years. He joined Williams ’squad in 2014 and was elevated to assistant coach in 2017.
Bob, Frederick’s father, was also Williams’ former athletic director in Kansas, and the two had a close relationship.
“Having been lucky enough to play with Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge and then work with Coach Williams, I was able to see and learn from the best on a daily basis. Coach Smith was a brilliant basketball coach and his attention to all the details of the practice. and during the games it was an amazing learning experience for me, “Frederick said in the statement.
“As important as his job on the basketball court was, the way he ran the show and developed the Carolina family made an even bigger impression on me. Coach Williams was able to catch what he went through. build Coach Smith and had incredible success while keeping Carolina on the road.I am motivated every day and will work tirelessly to help Coach Davis bring the same level of success and joy to our current and future Carolina teams. “.
Lebo, one of the new assistants, has also been coaching for a long time: 28 years and 20 as head coach. He won 327 games at four schools: Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga, six years in Auburn and then eight in East Carolina.
Lebo played Smith from 1985 to 1989, and his final year was Davis’ freshman season. Lebo was a senior captain in 1989 and UNC finished with 29 wins and a ranking in the top ten. Lebo’s son, Creighton, is already part of the UNC team.
“It was exciting for me to receive news from Hubert when he got the job. I’m very happy for him and happy for Carolina Basketball, because apart from coach Williams, we have a guy who loves Carolina as much as anyone in his set.world and is someone who is ready to take us to the next level.I played with Hubert, I have been training for a long time, and the opportunity to go back to Chapel Hill and train with Hubert and have my son, Creighton, playing here as a walker is a dream come true for me, “Lebo said in the statement.
“I love the interaction with the players and the competitiveness that coaching college basketball brings every day, whether it’s playing, coaching, winning and also recruiting, college basketball is undergoing massive changes, but one thing I can bring to Hubert’s staff is that I’ve been out of the UNC for a while, and I can bring a different perspective to the things I experienced for 20 years as a head coach. ”
Manuel was one of three captains in Williams’ national first team in 2005 and was one of the best defensive players in the league during his career. He began his career in Carolina under the direction of Doherty, playing for him for two years before playing with Williams for the past two years.
He played abroad for a number of years after graduating in 2005 and then joined UNC staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach before joining teammate Wes Miller in UNCG to start his career as an assistant. After a stop in Valparaiso, he followed Williams’ former assistant, CB McGrath, to UNC-Wilmington to be his assistant. McGrath was released after a 5-14 start to the 2019-20 season, but Manuel would find a home when UNC women’s coach Courtney Banghart hired him to serve as player staff director.
“This is home, a place where I grew up and became a man. It’s an opportunity for things to be completed with me. I always dreamed of working at UNC when I started training,” Manuel said in the statement. “I love Hubert. There’s always been something in his spirit since I first met him many years ago when he was a player. I look at him for his character and as a man of faith. He represents all things I believe in being a leader.
“Coach Williams and Coach Doherty unlocked the potential by challenging and caring for me and these things changed my life forever. I want the opportunity to do the same for our players. We want to create an environment that change the lives of our players, to help them be better students, better players and someday better husbands and fathers. “
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