Reports emerged tonight that the Michigan State head coach will not pursue the vacancy at UNC. ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news via X:
The three most mentioned names in UNC coaching searches are: Tommy Lloyd, Dusty May and Billy Donovan. Lloyd announced days ago that he accepted Arizona’s extension and will now report to the school’s president instead of the associate director. Billy Donovan is currently wrapping up the NBA regular season and says he doesn’t want to make a decision about his future until the season is over. Now May has come out and said he won’t be pursuing any college basketball jobs, and while that’s another sting in UNC’s plans, it’s worth noting that he specifically mentioned “college basketball jobs.” Interesting word choice.
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Regardless, UNC now has one less candidate on its roster. While it’s unclear whether the school is showing any signs of panic, fans’ anxiety is likely to grow in the coming days. Billy Donovan may be the top target, but a few big things have emerged in a report from the Chicago Sun-Times that suggest the Bulls are actually interested in making legitimate changes within the organization to entice Donovan to stay. More to come tomorrow morning.
There are a few names besides Donovan still floating around, but it’s unclear whether they are legitimate candidates. Mark Byington, Ben McCollum, TJ Otzelberger and Scott Drew are all names that have emerged in the past 24 hours, and one has to imagine there are a few candidates who have yet to be named. We’ll see what new information is released as the week progresses.
