There’s only one way out of this thing, and in the shocker of all shockers, it involves throwing money at the problem.
Not just $5 million in go-away money for North Carolina coach Hubert Davis, but huge, nasty cash to fix it once and for all.
Because if you’re North Carolina and you’ve committed tens of millions of dollars to Bill Belichick and his plan to rescue your football program, what’s the price to resuscitate your suddenly stale yet still iconic basketball program?
Let me give you a hint: a hundred million or more commitment.
This is big business, people. We’re talking about one of the three biggest college basketball brands struggling to not only reach the NCAA Tournament, but avoid disaster in the first round.
The program of Michael Jordan and Dean Smith and Roy Williams and all of those All-Americans and national championship moments, just blew a 19-point lead to VCU in the NCAA Tournament.
This isn’t about the loss of injured star freshman Caleb Wilson and how it affected the last two weeks of the season. It’s about the totality of Davis’ tenure, and if North Carolina is ready for a Belichick-ian response.
That can only mean one thing: Start printing cash for Florida coach Todd Golden.
If you’ve given Davis everything he could possibly want and need — the roster was valued at $15 million this season — and you’re still getting beat by VCU in the NCAAs, there’s no half-measure response to this unfolding nightmare.
North Carolina can’t keep throwing bad money after good and expect different results. The football program is on the verge of that very scenario with Belichick, who produced all of four wins with his bag of cash — and it doesn’t look much better after he signed the 50th-ranked transfer portal class according to the 247Sports composite.
This is no time for the timid. Be bold and brave ― and eliminate any possibility of Kentucky swooping in and signing Golden first.
Take the rare step and pay Golden like a football coach — or better yet, more than a football coach. More than Kirby and Cigs and Sark.
Offer $13-14 million a year over 10 years, and commit to $20 million annually in NIL funds (including private deals). Once the Belichick experiment fades — and it will — North Carolina will again realize what’s important, what fuels the Carolina brand.
Who knows if Golden would leave Florida, but you’re not starting over with one of the top three programs in the history of the sport with a mid-major coach, or another learn-on-the-go Carolina Man.
You’re not going to make a regional hire like UNC Wilmington’s Takayo Siddle, or High Point’s Flynn Clayman coming off an NCAA run.
You’re not hiring a former NBA coach, and you’re (probably) not getting John Calipari to leave Arkansas. OK, maybe Cal would go — but how much longer is he coaching?
It’s time to see just how serious North Carolina is about basketball.
Golden can be in Carolina Blue for three decades if he wins and wants to hang around. He can win big and recreate the pecking order of legendary UNC coaches.
Dean, Roy and Todd. Or Dean, Todd and Roy.
The only option is Golden, whose choice will be building a legacy at Florida or embracing the rebuild at arguably the most iconic brand in the sport.
He’s young, knows how to reach players in the NIL-driven world and has proven he can build and develop rosters and win a national title. He has made Florida a basketball school again.
Billy Donovan eventually walked away from what he built at Florida, and headed to the NBA. Golden could do the same — unless UNC pays him like an NBA coach.
This has nothing to do with the “football school” and “basketball school” nonsense. Florida has won it all with two different coaches at their first major job, and has the structure and financial wherewithal to win it all again with another.
This is a North Carolina question, not a Florida question.
How badly does North Carolina want to win big again, and at what cost?
Big, nasty cash to fix it once and for all.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: North Carolina basketball must replace Hubert Davis, hire Todd Golden