# BREAKING: HUBERT DAVIS SET TO EXPAND NORTH CAROLINA STAFF – Tar Heels Poised to Add Two High-Profile Assistants in Major Program Investment | Sources
**Chapel Hill, NC – November 18, 2025** – North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis is finalizing the most significant staff overhaul of his four-year tenure, multiple sources confirmed to Tar Heel Illustrated and Inside Carolina on Tuesday morning. The Tar Heels are expected to add **two full-time assistant coaches** and create a new “special assistant to the head coach” role focused on NBA scouting and player development — moves that would push Carolina’s bench to an unprecedented ten paid basketball staff members and signal a clear response to recent criticism about recruiting lag and player retention in the NIL/portal era.
The bombshell development comes just 48 hours after Seth Trimble’s dramatic return from the transfer portal and amid mounting pressure on Davis to modernize a program that has reached back-to-back Elite Eights but failed to advance to a Final Four since 2022. Athletic director Bubba Cunningham has reportedly green-lit a budget increase of more than $1.2 million annually for basketball staff salaries, funded through a combination of new donor commitments, Rams Club revenue, and the ACC’s expanded media deal.
Sources tell Inside Carolina the two leading candidates for the new on-court assistant roles are:
1. **Brad Frederick** (current UNC assistant) will be promoted to associate head coach with a significant raise, while the program adds **former Virginia and Vanderbilt head coach Jeff Capel Sr.** – the father of Duke head coach Jon Scheyer’s top assistant Jeff Capel III – as a senior assistant focused on frontcourt development. Capel Sr., 71, spent the last two seasons as a special assistant at Pitt under his son and is widely regarded as one of the best big-man developers in the game (having coached Ralph Sampson at Virginia in the 1980s and more recently Myles Johnson and Federiko Federiko).
2. The second spot is expected to go to **former Kentucky and Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger**, who has emerged as the frontrunner after quietly interviewing in Chapel Hill last week. Kruger, 73, retired in 2021 after leading the Sooners to the 2016 Final Four but has stayed connected to the game through USA Basketball and private workouts. Sources say Davis is enamored with Kruger’s championship pedigree (he won a title as a player at Kansas State in 1977) and his reputation as one of the best relationship builders in the profession.
Additionally, Carolina is creating a new “Director of NBA Relations & Advanced Scouting” position that will be filled by **former Charlotte Hornets assistant coach and long-time Roy Williams confidant Steve Robinson**. Robinson, who spent 18 years on Williams’ staff from 2003–2021, has been out of college basketball since retiring but has maintained deep ties with NBA front offices. The role will focus on preparing Tar Heels for the draft (a glaring weakness the past two cycles) and building direct pipelines to pro teams.
“Hubert went to Bubba and laid it all out,” one high-level source inside the Smith Center said. “He said, ‘If we want to win national championships in this new era, we can’t have a 1990s staff structure.’ Bubba didn’t blink. He told him, ‘Get the best people money can buy.’”
The moves are a direct reaction to several painful realities that surfaced last spring:
– UNC lost five-star forward Drake Powell to the 2025 NBA Draft after just one season.
– The Tar Heels were out-recruited on multiple in-state targets by Duke, Kentucky, and even NC State.
– Player development of big men (beyond Armando Bacot) has been inconsistent, with recent centers like Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler thriving only after transferring.
– The current staff of Davis, Brad Frederick, Sean May, Pat Sullivan, and Jeff Lebo has been criticized as too “Carolina family” heavy and lacking fresh voices from outside the Roy Williams tree.
Adding Capel Sr. and Kruger would instantly inject decades of head-coaching experience onto a bench that currently has zero. Kruger alone has 674 Division I wins and seven NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach. Capel Sr. brings old-school toughness and a track record of developing elite post players.
The financial commitment is staggering by Carolina standards. Current assistants already earn between $350,000–$550,000; sources say the two new hires will start north of $600,000 each, with Robinson’s special-assistant role carrying a $400,000+ salary and full benefits. That would make UNC’s basketball staff payroll one of the five most expensive in America, rivaling Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, and Arkansas.
Reaction across the college basketball world was immediate. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, when asked about the potential addition of Jeff Capel Sr., smiled and said, “That would be… interesting.” Kentucky coach Mark Pope texted reporters a simple eyes emoji when informed of Kruger’s candidacy. And on the Inside Carolina message boards, fans flooded the “Staff Expansion” megathread with celebration: “Finally treating the program like the blue blood it is,” wrote one longtime donor.
Davis is expected to make the hires official at a press conference early next week, likely Tuesday, November 25, after the Tar Heels return from the Maui Invitational. The timing is deliberate — Carolina opens the 2025-26 season ranked No. 9 in the AP poll and faces a loaded non-conference schedule that includes Kansas, Michigan State, and a potential rematch with Auburn.
For Hubert Davis, entering a pivotal Year 4 with Final Four-or-bust expectations, these additions represent more than just new faces on the bench. They’re a statement: North Carolina is done playing catch-up in the new era of college basketball.
The Carolina Family is growing — and it’s bringing in some heavyweight outsiders to help hang Banner No. 7.
Sources say paperwork is being finalized as you read this.
The Hubert Davis 2.0 era officially begins now.
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