-
Pete ThamelESPN
PHILADELPHIA — North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis exited the collective embrace of his coaching staff, walked down the sideline for the postgame handshake after UNC clinched a Final Four bid on Sunday and began feeling the emotion bubbling up inside of him.
As he approached Saint Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway, Davis reached up with both hands to wipe tears from his eyes. By the time he reached the postgame interview with CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl, the emotion had bubbled to a genuine crescendo, prompting tears of joy on national television.
“I just desperately wanted this for them,” Davis said. “I love these guys so much.”
The first season of Davis’ tenure as head coach at North Carolina had transformed precipitously four weeks ago. North Carolina entered Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5 as an improving team that had likely inched its way to the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble with a 22-8 record. But the Tar Heels were also a streaky and vulnerable team that lost its eight regular-season games by an average of 17.3 points.
After spoiling Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game — and the daylong party that accompanied it — North Carolina veered Davis’ early tenure from a turbulent start to a promising future. With the Tar Heels continuing that momentum to reach a college basketball-record 21st Final Four this weekend, Davis has had a stage to show the country a distinct evolution of North Carolina basketball.
The postgame crying jag fits with the empathetic leadership style Davis has portrayed this season. He sounded as much like a yoga teacher as a basketball coach during news conferences in Philadelphia, speaking thoughtfully about his appreciation of the opportunity to help shape the lives of the Carolina players.
“This is not a job,” Davis said. “To me this is missionary work. It really is. It’s put me in a position where I can help and serve and coach and teach and give back to these…
Source : espn
