The experience on Pat Sullivan's resume explains why Head Coach Hubert Davis has him on his staff, giving advice to many different NBA stars and even joining forces with Larry Brown many years ago on the Detroit Pistons. This year's roster will be able to pick his brain and find the knowledge necessary to expand their horizon.
Here is more on Sullivan's long-time career and more, per GoHeels:
"In his first three seasons in his second stint as a member of the UNC coaching staff the Tar Heels have won 78 games, including 43-17 in ACC play, earned a Final Four berth, an ACC regular-season championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2022 Final Four was Pat Sullivan’s seventh as a Tar Heel. He played in 1991, 1993 and 1995, was on Smith’s staff in 1997, an assistant coach in 1998 and 2000 and the 2022 Final Four capped his first season as director of recruiting for Davis, a former UNC teammate.
Sullivan played for Smith at Carolina from 1990-93 and 1994-95 (he requested to red-shirt the 1993-94 season) and was part of Bill Guthridge’s staff with Phil Ford and Dave Hanners that won NCAA regional titles and advanced to the Final Four in 1998 and 2000. Carolina won the 1993 NCAA championship in Sullivan’s junior season.
He has played in more NCAA Tournament games (19) and more NCAA Tournament wins (17) than any Tar Heel in history and is one of seven Tar Heels who have played in three Final Fours.
Sullivan was a member of Hall of Famer Larry Brown’s staff with the Detroit Pistons when they won the NBA championship in 2003-04. He served as assistant coach with the Pistons in 2004-05, with the New Jersey Nets from 2005-08, the Pistons again from 2008-11, the Washington Wizards from 2012-16, the Los Angeles Clippers from 2016-18 and the New York Knicks from 2018-20. In 2020-21, he was a player development and defensive assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As an NBA assistant coach, Sullivan worked for numerous head coaches, including Brown, Doc Rivers, Lawrence Frank and Randy Wittman, and helped coach a number of former Tar Heel standouts and other NBA stars, including: Bradley Beal, Chauncey Billups, Reggie Bullock, Vince Carter, Ed Davis, Wayne Ellington, Raymond Felton, Blake Griffin, Richard Hamilton, Richard Jefferson, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns, John Wall, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace."
As year five begins on November 3 against Central Arkansas, it also marks an important time of his Coach Davis' career which has a "make-or-break" feel to it, considering the amount of ups and downs his journey has faced from making the national championship in his debut season, then missing the entire NCAAT, but the Sweet 16 came around, until this year's first round exit introduced itself.
Who knows what's next? If the trend continues then that is a positive for Tar Heel fans.
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