With the firing of University of North Carolina men’s basketball head coach Hubert Davis, it’s been speculated that current Monmouth head coach King Rice will be in the group of candidates vying to become the next coach of the Tar Heels.
It was announced on Tuesday, March 24 that Davis was out after losing in the first round of March Madness to VCU. In five seasons as head coach, Davis was 125-54, with a winning percentage of 69.8%, taking the position after legendary coach Roy Williams in 2021.
UNC tends to hire in-house to head its athletics teams. Since 1961, every head coach in men’s basketball—Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Roy Williams and Davis—either played for or served as an assistant coach at the school.
There’s talk that UNC will be looking beyond the “Carolina Family” tree to find its next head coach. There’s also skepticism that will really happen.
UNC is Rice’s alma mater. Rice, 57, played for Smith and was a part of the 1989 and 1991 ACC Tournament championship teams. He played point guard for the Tar Heels from 1987-91 and helped guide them to the Final Four in 1991.
Earlier this month, Rice completed his 15th season as Monmouth’s head coach. The Hawks lost in the CAA Tournament final to Hofstra and finished fourth in the conference — the highest since Monmouth joined the league in 2022. Rice’s career coaching record is 239–243. He won three MAAC Coach of the Year honors and led the Hawks to three MAAC regular season titles, the latest being 2021. But, Rice has been unable to win any conference’s tournament championship nor taken a team to the national tournament.
When the UNC hoops head coach position last opened up five years ago, Rice was in the mix. He was among a pool of 8 to 10 candidates interviewed for the opening by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who reportedly was also interested in whether candidates would consider serving as assistant coaches.
Will Rice be in the UNC mix this time?
Rice didn’t respond to a text message but he seemed content at Monmouth in his most recent public comments about his job status.
Rice made $577,418 in reportable compensation and $68,404 in “estimated amount of other compensation from the organization and related organizations” according to a Monmouth tax filing for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.
“I watched the Boston College coach the other day, Earl Grant, and it really hit me ’cause I’ve known Earl a little bit and people ask him ‘how do you feel about your job and this and that’ – everybody’s talking about this man’s job,” Rice said on Feb. 28, after Monmouth defeated Elon.
BC fired Grant a week later.
“When I was watching him he just said, ‘I feel great,’” Rice said. “Because he’s so thankful for the opportunity that he had. I think sometimes as coaches, when you see us, you only see us after games, you see when we’re mad, you see when we’re emotional, and that’s who you get to see and have an opinion on.
“And I don’t say this enough, I’ve been here 15 years, I’m the most thankful coach… Every single day, I wear proud that I get to be at Monmouth. I’m thankful, I’m proud I get to be the coach, the things that Monmouth has helped me grow as a man – they helped my family grow, my family’s doing much better because of these 15 years at Monmouth. They gave me an opportunity that I prayed for. I prayed to be a coach, and Monmouth gave me that opportunity. So I’m grateful that I get to be the Monmouth coach. I know there’s some days I seem mad but I’m truly truly thankful for these 15 years and the future – that I get to be the coach at Monmouth.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth basketball’s King Rice, North Carolina opening may not be a match