The University of North Carolina announced the hiring of former Denver Nuggets head coach and NBA champion Michael Malone to lead the Tar Heels men’s basketball program.
Malone, 54, succeeds Hubert Davis, who was recently fired after five years of service.
The former head coach took his team to the national championship game in his first season, but couldn’t get past the Sweet 16 in the next four seasons.
What’s surprising about this decision is that Malone has never been a college head coach before.
He spent his entire head coaching career in the NBA, winning 510 games over 12 seasons.
His most notable accomplishment came in 2023, when he guided his Nuggets to their first-ever NBA championship with superstar player Nikola Jokić.
But Denver surprisingly fired Malone after three games before the end of 2024-25. He spent the last year as ESPN analyst, because he couldn’t get an NBA head coaching job.
Although Malone isn’t starting from scratch as a college coach, he coached as an assistant in Oakland, Providence and Manhattan in the 1990s.
The current volleyball player at UNC for his daughter probably sped up the negotiation process.
