Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is considered one of the leading candidates to take over as head coach of the North Carolina basketball program, league sources tell ClutchPoints. Hubert Davis was fired by the UNC Tar Heels after five seasons, and the school is moving quickly to add a high-profile coach to lead its historic program for the foreseeable future.
Whether or not Donovan will actually leave the NBA to become UNC's next head coach after spending the last decade coaching professionally is the major question being asked in both the NBA and collegiate ranks.
North Carolina is expected to contact Donovan soon and have talks about his vacant head coaching role, with sources telling ClutchPoints that the Bulls coach would "seriously consider" the idea of taking over the historic program if offered the job.
Donovan has never ruled out a possible return to coaching again at the collegiate level, and that opportunities like the one at UNC will likely arise again.
Donovan, a two-time NCAA championship coach with the Florida Gators, has spent the last 11 seasons in the NBA. He was originally hired by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015 before signing a lucrative four-year contract worth approximately $25 million to become the head coach of the Bulls in 2020.
Less than a year earlier, in July, Donovan signed a new multi-year contract extension making him one of the league's highest-paid coaches. Sources say Donovan is being paid $10 million per year on this new extension with the Bulls.
Although it is not certain whether he will leave the Bulls and the NBA to take over the UNC basketball program, Donovan's future in Chicago has become a significant discussion topic among league personnel over the past month.
Billy Donovan's future in Chicago is uncertain
While the Bulls have no intention of moving on from Donovan even though the 2025-26 season marks the franchise's fourth consecutive season that has missed the playoffs, the latest rumors point to the 60-year-old head coach being unsure about his commitment to the organization.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bulls' lack of direction has led Donovan to think about his future. As a result, there is growing speculation that Donovan is possibly stepping down to get his coaching career back on a successful path.
Donovan has never been one to bounce from one job to the next, given his time as a collegiate coach, which is why his perceived sense of skepticism in the overall direction of the Bulls will be a selling point in a potential new deal to become UNC's next head coach.
In addition to keeping Donovan at the top of the list of potential candidates, the UNC Tar Heels selected Boston Celtics executive and former head coach Brad Stevens as the university's top choice for their coaching vacancy. However, according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, Stevens has already removed his name from the university's list of prospects.
When contacted for confirmation on the matter, league sources told ClutchPoints that Stevens has no desire to leave the Celtics and is fully committed to competing for and winning more championships in Boston.
In addition to Donovan, high-level coaches such as Arizona's Tommy Lloyd, Michigan's Dusty Mays and Alabama's Nate Oats have come up as rumored targets for UNC.
Since taking over the role of Bulls head coach in 2020, Donovan has compiled a record of 224–247, including 71 games this season, with only one postseason appearance in 2022. After winning 39 games each of the last two years, Donovan and the Bulls took a step back this year and will enter the offseason with a ton of questions revolving around roster construction.
This has led to many questions being asked among NBA personnel about Donovan's long-term future with the Bulls, one of which revolves around whether he would really consider going back to college to a prolific program like North Carolina if offered the job.
