Kenny Smith Comments on UNC Firing Hubert Davis

• “Yeah, we can talk about North Carolina,” Smith said during halftime of Texas vs. Purdue. “But that vacancy – I thought that was honestly disrespectful. But first of all, Coach Hubert Davis, thank you. Your service and what you did for North Carolina basketball as a player and as a coach, you moved it forward."

• "I think people forget that because of one game here and there. But I also think this is a precarious position for North Carolina and for us as Tar Heels. Because what makes us special, when you fire one person, that’s Hubert Davis. But when you have Coach [Brad] Frederick, you have Sean May, you have Jeff Lebo, you have Marcus Paige, you have Pat Sullivan."

• "What that is, is you have a lineage to every era of basketball that’s Carolina that was on that staff, including Hubert Davis. Every era was connected."

• “That’s what makes us special, Smith continued. "Forget all that ‘blue blood.’ What makes Carolina family is the connection of all of those eras were in one building at one time. That’s makes people pay attention and have some animosity or some love for us.”

Smith explained how the Tar Heels' administration needs to prioritize a coach that will be there for the long haul. The NBA analyst preferred if North Carolina hired within the family, but acknowledged that is unlikely the case.

• “The other part of that is the secretaries. They’ve been there for 10 years,” Smith explained. “The equipment managers, the strength and conditioning person – decades. So, when a new person come in, if we hire supposedly [from] outside the family and this new person comes in, they might [say], ‘Well, this guy was my guy. I want to bring him in, as well.’"

• “I will say this. Dean Smith retired as a Tar Heel," Smith continued. "Roy Williams retired as a Tar Heel. Hubert Davis was going to retire a Tar Heel. Whoever we come in, they have to want to retire a Tar Heel. I don’t care what that means. You don’t want to look for, ‘Oh, [what] J.J. Redick has done in LA. I want to be a Laker.’ You retire a Tar Heel, the next person.”