CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina assistant coach Marcus Paige is leaving this system to hitch fellow former Tar Heel Wes Miller’s new workers at Charlotte, sources have confirmed.
The 2025–26 season marked Paige’s third on workers at his alma mater following a seven-year skilled profession. He joined the UNC workers forward of the 2023–24 season as director of staff and participant improvement earlier than transferring into an assistant teaching function over the previous two seasons.
Sources near the UNC basketball program informed Inside Carolina that Paige’s departure from Chapel Hill wasn’t a shock, because it’s one thing these throughout the program knew he’d been considering for a while.
UNC directors this week voiced their want to maintain him in Chapel Hill, sources confirmed. Paige responded by professing his love for Carolina, however defined that his objective is to develop as a coach and to try this he wanted to have a much bigger function and achieve totally different experiences elsewhere.
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The Marion, Iowa native performed for the Tar Heels from 2012–16 and ranks eleventh in program historical past in scoring (1,844 factors) whereas holding the college document for three-pointers (229).
Paige made 34 of 35 begins as a freshman in 2012–13 — an expertise that later helped him relate to and information freshman Derek Dixon this previous season.
“I’ve been on him all year about becoming a leader and using his leadership voice,” Paige mentioned in February. “Now that he’s a starter and has taken on a bigger role, that’s become more important, and I’ve seen him do it better.”
Dixon spoke to Paige’s teaching earlier this season: “Just the similarities between us… he went back after the NC State game and looked at his freshman year numbers, and they were almost the exact same as mine. So that gave me a lot of confidence, just knowing he was able to accomplish all those things even with his freshman year not shooting the ball the best — which I’m not doing right now. He’s just been on me to stay confident and keep going.”
Paige, whose jersey hangs within the Smith Center rafters, earned First-Team All-ACC and Second-Team All-American honors as a sophomore after averaging 17.5 factors and 4.2 assists.
His double-clutch three-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining within the 2016 nationwide championship towards Villanova stays one of the iconic photographs in Final Four historical past.
In UNC’s 85–84 extra time win at NC State on Feb. 26, 2014, Paige scored a career-high 35 factors, together with the game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds remaining.
