UNC’s new men’s basketball coach, Hubert Davis, has, for the first time in Carolina history, put the finishing touches to his assistant coaching staff, which will be made up entirely of former UNC players (including Davis himself).
Former UNC center and 2005 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Sean May is promoted from director of basketball operations to assistant coach. May has been on the Roy Williams staff for six years. Brad Frederick, a former walk-on who played for both Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge, has been on the Williams staff for eight years and as a full-fledged assistant for four years. Frederick remains in that role.
However, there will be new assistants – Jeff Lebo, who played for Smith at North Carolina and has coached since 1990, including as head coach from 1998-2017, before stepping down from East Carolina.
May’s teammate Jackie Manuel, who has been an assistant coach since 2011, most recently serving as a member of UNC’s women’s basketball coaching staff as Courtney Banghart’s director of player staff. Manuel becomes the director of the player staff, the staff position just below a full assistant coach position. Both May and Manuel played for former UNC head coach Matt Doherty and for Williams.
“I wanted a staff that went to North Carolina and played in North Carolina,” Davis said in a press release announcing the moves. “I think you have a great opportunity to do this job well if you have experienced it as a player. Obviously, it is not the only way, but since there are so many former players who coach, it is a great way to play. build my first staff as the head coach. It was important for each of the assistants to have a connection with Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach (Matt) Doherty and Coach Williams. It connects the personalities of each of the former head coaches with our current team, which was a huge incentive for me to put this staff together. Carolina basketball is all of them and I wanted a staff with that diversity of experiences to give the most to our players. “
Former Williams point guard Kendall Marshall, who had served as a recruiter and assistant director of basketball operations since 2019, was not detained by Davis. Steve Robinson, who was Williams’s best assistant for 26 years, was also released.
“I also want to thank Steve Robinson and Kendall Marshall, who don’t want to move forward with us, for everything they’ve done for Carolina Basketball,” Davis said. Coach Rob came to Chapel Hill with Coach Williams and has been a big part of every Tar Heel win and national championship in the past 18 years. I appreciate everything he has done to help me grow as a coach and person over the past 18 years. nine years.we spent on the staff together.
“I didn’t get the chance to coach Kendall, who is one of our best point guards, but I am proud that he came back to finish college and begin his coaching journey in Carolina. I wish Kendall and Steve nothing but great days. “
However, other staff will be retained: Eric Hoots, who has been on the Williams staff for 17 years as a key behind-the-scenes contributor and most recently a director of player development, will be elevated to director of basketball operations. Jonas Sahratian, who has worked at Williams in Kansas as his strength and conditioning coach since 1999, will also stay on. Head of track and field coach Doug Halverson has been on the Williams staff since 2005 and will continue to serve in that role.
Jeff, Sean, Brad and Jackie all played for one or more of them and Hoots has been on the UNC staff for 20 years. Each of the coaches and Jackie have played, coached or worked college basketball for a long time, but they also make connection with the current generation of players. And that’s also critical, “said Davis.
“ They have competed in national championships, ACC championships and the greatest rivalry in college basketball and are well positioned to recruit players of the type who will thrive academically and athletically in Carolina, help us win at the highest level and hopefully continue to things go into basketball and life. “
May has now served as director of basketball activities for four years. May entered the NBA as a junior after winning MOP honors and leading UNC to the 2005 national title. Injuries plagued his NBA career after being drafted 13th overall by the then Charlotte Bobcats.
May continued to play internationally until 2014 before Williams hired him as director of player development in the fall of 2015. In 2017 he was promoted to director of basketball activities.
“The University of North Carolina means everything to me. I played here, I won a championship here, it’s where I decided to get to know the other side of basketball when I joined Coach Williams’ staff six years ago. Now I have the chance to do what I am passionate about which is to teach basketball and help our players get what my coaches have brought me – an incredible experience I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to do that on the spot which I love, ”May said in the release.
Coach Davis has been a role model and mentor to me for a long time. I am delighted to join Hubert on this path and support his vision of where Carolina Basketball is going further. He has an incredible knowledge of the game, an amazing work ethic. and knows how he wants the program to go. He has played and worked here and knows what it takes to be successful. “
Frederick has been a coach since 2000, when he joined Vanderbilt on the staff of former Williams assistant Kevin Stallings, where he stayed for 14 years. He joined Williams’ staff in 2014 and was elevated to assistant coach in 2017.
Frederick’s father Bob was also the former athletic director of Williams in Kansas, and the two had a close relationship.
“Being lucky enough to play for Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge and then work for Coach Williams, I was able to see and learn the best on a daily basis. Coach Smith was a brilliant basketball coach and his attention to every detail in practice and during games was an incredible learning experience for me, ”said Frederick in the release.
“As important as his work on the basketball floor was, the way he ran the program and developed the Carolina family made an even bigger impression on me. Coach Williams was able to take what Coach Smith had built and had an incredible amount success, while 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 in the coaching for a long time – 28 years and 20 as the head coach. He won 327 games in four schools: Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga, six years with Auburn, and then eight in East Carolina.
Lebo played for Smith from 1985-89 and his senior year was Davis’s freshman season. Lebo was a senior captain in 1989 and UNC finished with 29 wins and a top-10 ranking. Lebo’s son Creighton is already part of the UNC team as a walk-on.
“It was exciting for me to hear from Hubert when he got the job. I’m so happy for him and happy for Carolina Basketball, because except maybe Coach Williams, we have a guy who loves Carolina as much as everyone else in the world. world and is someone who is ready to take us to the next level. I played with Hubert, I coached for a long time, and the chance to come back to Chapel Hill and coach with Hubert, and my son Creighton to Playing here as a walk-on is a dream come true for me, ”said Lebo in the release.
“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 do bringing Hubert’s staff away from UNC for a while, and I can offer a different perspective on things I’ve experienced as head coach in 20 years. ”
Manuel was one of three captains of Williams’ first national title team in 2005 and was one of the best defensive players in the league during his career. He started his career in Carolina under Doherty and played for him for two years before playing his last two years under Williams.
He played abroad for a few years after graduating in 2005 and then joined the staff of UNC as an assistant strength and conditioning coach before joining teammate Wes Miller’s staff at UNCG to begin his career as an assistant. After a stop at Valparaiso, he followed Williams’s former assistant, CB McGrath, to UNC-Wilmington to be an assistant to him. McGrath was let go after a 5-14 start in the 2019-20 season, but Manuel would find a home when UNC women’s coach Courtney Banghart hired him as director of player staff.
“This is my home, a place where I grew up and became a man. It’s an opportunity to come full circle. I’ve always dreamed of working at UNC when I started coaching,” said Manuel in the press release. . “I love Hubert. There has always been something with his mind from the first time I met him many years ago when I was a player. I look up to him because of his character and as a man of faith. all things I believe in as a leader.
“Coach Williams and Coach Doherty unlocked the potential in me by challenging me and caring for me, and those things have changed my life forever. I want to have the opportunity to do the same for our players. We want a life-changing experience. creating an environment for our players to help them become better students, better players, and one day better husbands and fathers. ”