North Carolina has hired the first general manager ever for its fabled basketball program, as UNC alum Jim Tanner is being brought on board to handle what has become a new and vital role for football and basketball programs, a source close to the situation confirmed to THI very late Monday night.

When UNC’s brass decided to move on from football coach Mack Brown last November, a decision had already been made to go full throttle financially in football, which included hiring a GM and allowing him a staff of 30. It was also decided at that time the school would do the same with basketball.

Tanner won’t need as large a staff, but he will have one, as this moves UNC into a much better position with respect to the transfer portal which opens in three weeks.

While UNC Coach Hubert Davis may have been hesitant about heading in this direction, he has embraced the need for adding to the depth of the program, he acknowledged a couple of weeks ago on his radio show.

“The old model for Carolina basketball just doesn't work, it's not sustainable,” he said, referencing that players don’t choose schools simply because of their heritage, which was long a major selling point for UNC under Dean Smith and Roy Williams.

“It has to build out because there's so many things in play with NIL, the transfer portal, agents, international players. You just need a bigger staff to be able to maintain things, and you need a bigger staff so I can do what I'm supposed to be doing, (which) is coaching basketball."

Tanner is president and founder of Tandem Sports & Entertainment based in Arlington, VA. It’s a sports agency that represents numerous current NBA players and has represented former Tar Heels such as Tyler Hansbrough, Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, and Justin Jackson, to name several.

Tanner graduated from Carolina in 1990. He is originally from High Point, NC, and attended UNC on the prestigious Morehead scholarship.