Pat Sullivan, who played in three Final Fours and coached in two others, and spent 18 seasons on NBA coaching staffs, returns to his alma mater as the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team’s director of recruiting, head coach Hubert Davis announced today.
 
Sullivan played at Carolina under head coach Dean Smith from 1990-93 and 1994-95 (he requested to red-shirt the 1993-94 season) and was an assistant coach to Bill Guthridge for three seasons from 1997-2000. Carolina won the 1993 NCAA championship in Sullivan’s junior season, he also played in the Final Four in 1991 and 1995 and was part of Guthridge’s staff with Phil Ford and Dave Hanners that won NCAA regional titles and advanced to the Final Four in 1998 and 2000.
 
He played in more NCAA Tournament games (19) and more NCAA Tournament wins (17) than any Tar Heel in history and is one of nine Tar Heels who have played in three Final Fours.
 
“Pat and I played two seasons together and we instantly became great friends, so when I was putting together my staff he immediately came to mind,” says Davis. “He just loves everything about the game of basketball, from playing and coaching to recruiting and developing a team. He also loves the University of North Carolina, so he said yes to returning to Chapel Hill as soon as we talked. He is very knowledgeable about the game and is going to be a tremendous resource to our players and staff because he loves Carolina and knows the NBA so well from more than 15 years working with many of the league’s top players and coaches.”
 
“It’s such an incredible opportunity to come back to a place and work with a person I love,” says Sullivan. “You never think about coming back to Carolina because it’s such a great place that you never envision an opportunity coming open like this, but playing two seasons with Hubert, knowing his character and the passion that we share for this University and basketball program, it was an easy decision to make. He probably didn’t know I was hoping to come back, but I was so glad he called. Hubert has so much integrity; his beliefs and the way he cares about the program remind me of Coach Smith.
 
“I’m excited to serve these kids, be part of this community again and be part of Carolina Basketball. My experiences here with Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Phil (Ford) and Dave (Hanners), what they did for me, not just on the court, but pushing me to be better in school, to be better in the community, growing as a man, are things I talk about every day.”
 
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 many of the NBA’s top stars, including numerous former Tar Heel standouts: 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.
 
“When I had a chance to coach Carolina players in the NBA, it was so amazing to see that the passion they had for Coach Williams was the same I had for Coach Smith, and that’s a big part of why I came back,” says Sullivan. “I want each player to have that same experience and feel that love for UNC that I have.
 
“Plus, I know the style of play on both ends of the floor, the individual workouts, the time commitment players must have to be successful in the NBA and I can provide that type information to our players, who all have dreams of playing in the NBA.”
 
The Bogota, N.J., native (buh-GO-tuh) scored 478 points in 118 games as a Tar Heel, netting a career-high 18 points against Old Dominion on 12/1/92, one of 12 games in which he scored in double figures. He famously made the front end of a 1-and-1 with 20 seconds to play in the 1993 NCAA title game against Michigan to give UNC a two-point lead, a game the Tar Heels went on to win, 77-71.
 
Sullivan averaged a career-best 6.4 points as a junior when the Tar Heels went 34-4 en route to the national title. The Tar Heels advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game in each of his five seasons as a player, winning the title in 1991 and 1994.
 
He was a college teammate with Hubert Davis from 1990-92 and was on the Pistons’ staff in 2003 when Davis played in Detroit for half a season.
 
He won UNC’s Butch Bennett Award as a freshman for dedication, sportsmanship and sacrifice for the good of the team; was the recipient of the 1993-94 Rick Sharp Award, given to the player who contributed the most in practice and behind the scenes; and was a team captain and the Most Inspirational Player in 1994-95.
 
Prior to joining the Carolina coaching staff in October 1997, Sullivan was the head coach at Hale High School in Raleigh in 1995-96 and spent a season on Coach Smith’s staff as an administrative assistant and assistant video coordinator.
 
He and his wife, Sara, have a son, Collin, and daughter, Olivia.

https://goheels.com/news/2021/5/24/pat-sullivan-joins-mens-basketball-staff.aspx