January 21, 2026
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Having just experienced the worst “trip out west” since the Donner Party, UNC’s ever-increasingly maligned Men’s Basketball team and its leader, the also ever-increasingly maligned Head Coach Hubert Davis returned to Dean’s Dome to begin the Atlantic Coast portion of their Atlantic/Pacific Coast Conference schedule.
A season that began with highlight reel dunks by Phenom de’jour “Caleb” and a tall white guy has gone off the rails for lack of “the next Phil Ford or Ed Cota or Tommy Kearns” according to the so-called experts at He’s Not Here or wherever the UNC Basketball Experts hang out in 2026.
I have no opinion on the malignment of Hubert Davis. A school with three legitimate Hall of Fame basketball coaches (don’t forget Frank McGuire) is NOT guaranteed a 4th despite what it’s C-Blue Kool-Aid drunk fan base might think. The only sure thing about the current and future plight of Major College Basketball is that any correlation to its storied past is purely by accident.
“Blue Bloods” from now on will be determined by “Green Backs’ as in the going rate to rent -a-player for one year. How many jerseys and banners hanging in one’s rafters is now irrelevant to how many “benjamins” are laid on the. table.
The chances of Hubert Davis still being UNC’s HBC come May are about as good as “JordOn” being invited to join the Greater Carrboro Ladies’ Tea & Crumpets Society. A likelihood that surely will garner the rapt attention of The Self-Appointed Saviour of All Things UNC Sports …. Trustee John “Mack’s BFF” Preyer.
Having single-handedly made UNC Football the laughingstock of College Football with Cirque de Bill&Chick, could Trustee Preyer pass up the opportunity to do the same with UNC Basketball?
I have it on authority from absolutely no one that Trustee Preyer is already in negotiations with none other than ……
Gregg Popovich.
The legendary former HC of the NBA’s San Antoonio Spurs, “Coach Pop” meets all the criteria that Trustee Preyer looks for in his well-chronicled Head Coach searches …
- Like YouKnowWho …Popovich was born before 1950 … he is 76.
- Like YouKnowWho … Popovich is top three in all-time Wins in his sport
- Like YouKnowWho … Popovich was fortunate to have “a generational talent” (Tim Duncan) during his decades of success.
- Like YouKnowWho … Popovich is notoriously cranky, arrogant, and “difficult”
- Like YouKnowWho … Popovich has a greatly exaggerated opinion of his current market value
But BobLee … Does Popovich have a “sugar baby”? Who knows; but Who Knew until Belichick showed up with his in tow.
PLUS … and especially appealing to 99.999% of the TDS-afflicted population of Orange County ….
Gregg Popovich HATES DONALD TRUMP & MAGA NATION with the heat of 1,000 suns.
Only Warriors’ HC Steve Kerr … Adam “Pencilneck” Schiff … “The Wicked Witch of Chappaqua” … and Jasmine “Ghetto Barbie” Crockett MIGHT out rank “Coach Pop” on the TrumpDerangement-meter.
No more calls … Trustee John Preyer has his Next Big-Name Coach ….
The choice of Gregg Popovich will NOT please those Franklin Street die-hards who, for the past 20+ years, have pined for Larry Brown … George Karl … Doug Moe … Wes Miller … and/or even His Airness #23 as their Tar Heels mentor of choice.
With the question of “After Hubert … Who” having been resolved, Old Wellers turn their attention to the future of Yea Olde Dean Dome …
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There seems to be no end to the subjects about which I have little or no interest whatsoever … but feel compelled to discuss any way … “Carolina North” fits that criteria.
UNC owns 200+ acres of land where the Horace Williams Airport used to be, a mile or so north of downtown Chapel Hill. After a decade plus of umpteen ad hoc committees to discuss how to develop that land … a new series of committees are now being formed to further discuss “how to best develop that land”.
The previous committee recommended the area be called “Centennial Campus” … a homeless guy named “Mitch” told’em that was really dumb and would not be approved by the much-maligned UNC Board of Governors. That unimaginative recommendation was NOT proposed by Trustee John Preyer despite what most logically assumed when it was announced.
Of all the long lists of possible usage of the property the ONLY ONE that alumni actually care about is the possible building of a new basketball arena … replacing the 40-years old Yea Olde Dean Dome.
UNC officials have sworn in writing that a new building would NOT be named “Doherty’s Dome” … OR “AfAm Studies Arena“. OUCH!
Hansbrough’s House is still a possibility as is “The House That Michael Built But Never Played In” … that has a nice ring to it.
An alternative to a brand new off-campus arena is renovating The Dean Dome … AKA “The Dome That Skipper (Bowles) Built”. The cost of renovating versus a new building is about half for the former.
Renovations would include removing the fabled “pee walls” in the Mens Rooms … and maybe demolishing the entire Upper Deck which for 40 years’ have required individual Hubbell telescopes to see uniform numbers and where the ball is.
It being UNC and Chapel Hill circa 2026 … restroom renovations will require only half as many as were necessary per code 40 years’ ago. Separate “facilities” for males and females are sooooo “unprogressive” and it being UNC and Chapel Hill circa 2026.
Renovating TDD OR a new arena …. either decision will require beaucoup bucks by UNC Mega-boosters. Yes, the same Mega-boosters who just paid Gio Lopez $2,000,000 for his nine months of mediocrity in Chapel Hill. “Donor Fatique” is not a matter of IF but WHEN ….
Final decisions on any/all of the above will likely be resolved by Chancellors and coaches yet to be born.
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Re: Indiana Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers et al …. As Future Czar of P4 College Football …. my first decree is that Fernando’s Quarterback Draw TD is THE SINGLE GREATEST PLAY in The Modern Era of College Football. Auburn’s Kick-6 versus Alabama drops to #2.
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