Hubert Davis Contract: Extension, Salary, & Buyout

Replacing a legend is not an ideal undertaking, but that’s exactly what UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis signed up for. 

Roy Williams retired after the 2020-21 college basketball season with a legendary Carolina resume that included three national championships, five Final Fours, and 12 total ACC championships across both regular-season and tournament formats. How could Davis top that?

Answer: One year at a time. In Davis’ first year in charge, UNC reached the 2022 national championship game.

Davis – an assistant under Williams – initially signed a five-year deal with a base salary of $400,000 and approximately $1.5 million in additional pay stipends from supplemental pay and Learfield compensation. The national championship appearance netted Davis an early raise and contract extension, plus a lot of goodwill.

Hubert Davis Contract

Hubert Davis’ current contract is worth $16.7 million and runs through the 2027-28 college basketball season. 

Hubert Davis Contract Extension

Hubert Davis’ most recent extension came in August 2022 on the heels of UNC’s appearance in the 2022 national championship game. 

Hubert Davis Salary

For the 2023-24 UNC basketball season, Hubert Davis collects a salary of $2.6 million. That compensation is amassed from several different explicitly defined contractual categories:

• $400,000 in base salary
• $1.4 million in supplemental compensation
• $50,000 annual expense allowance
• $500,000 as part of a multimedia deal with Learfield
• $250,000 as part of a deal with Nike

While most of these categories are static for the life of the contract, the supplemental compensation increases every season:

• $1.1 million for the 2022-23 season
• $1.4 million for the 2023-24 season
• $1.6 million for the 2024-25 season
• $1.7 million for the 2025-26 season
• $1.8 million for the 2026-27 season
• $1.9 million for the 2027-28 season

The supplemental increases are the only current source of Davis’ annual increases. His compensation package tops out at $3.1 million during the final year of the current deal. 

Performance bonuses, like winning the ACC tournament or reaching the Final Four, could add an additional maximum $1,075,000 per year. 

Hubert Davis Buyout

If North Carolina chooses to fire Hubert Davis without cause at any point during the life of this contract extension, the university will owe Davis the remaining balance of his base salary ($400,000 per year) over the life of the deal. Following the 2024 season, that would be $1.6 million.

Davis’ current contract does include a mitigation clause, meaning UNC can be absolved of any remaining buyout if and when Davis takes a job with a gross salary equal to or greater than his base at UNC. 

Given that Davis is only in his 50s, and there are few prominent Division I men’s basketball jobs whose total compensation package isn’t at least $400,000, North Carolina will likely not owe a buyout in the event of Davis’ firing.

The firing isn’t very likely any time soon, either, since North Carolina is in competition for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament this season.