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NBA champion or not, legendary Duke Blue Devils basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski isn’t too worried about Michael Malone, who was reportedly hired to replace Hubert Davis with the UNC Tar Heels, putting the program back on track.
After all, Krzyzewski’s biggest rival during his illustrious tenure as duke was the UNC. And he invoked Bill Belichick when asked about Malone’s hiring during his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” Monday.
“They hired an NFL champion to coach, and Duke beat Carolina football this year,” Krzyzewski told McAfee and AJ Hawk with a smirk on the program. “That’s not to say coach Belichick isn’t a great coach, but there’s time for adjustments. It takes more time between the pros and college.”
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Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils attends practice before the Final Four of the 2022 men’s basketball tournament at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 1, 2022. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Belichick learned this firsthand last season, his first in college football with the Tar Heels. While Duke finished with a 9-5 overall record and won the ACC title, UNC was a paltry 4-8 with a 2-6 ACC record.
Additionally, as Krzyzewski mentioned, Duke beat Belichick’s UNC team, 32-25, to end its freshman season with a loss.
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Of course, the college game has completely changed now, with name, image and likeness (NIL) deals paving the way for richer programs to pay the cream of the crop in the transfer portal as well as out of high school.
Belichick and his team will need to get more creative, and perhaps open the checkbooks further, as this new college system continues to stay in place.
But football is not king in Chapel Hill: basketball reigns supreme. Krzyzewski knows this, as the Blue Devils were typically pitted against the Tar Heels as the best teams in the country fighting not only for bragging rights, but national titles.
Head coach Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets watches the game against the Golden State Warriors during the second quarter at Chase Center in San Francisco, California on April 4, 2025. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
Malone coached the Denver Nuggets for 10 seasons, including an NBA title in 2023. However, he was fired in April 2025, quickly taking a sports media role with ESPN a month later.
The Tar Heels, who fired Davis after UNC’s crushing loss to VCU in the first round of the NCAA tournament, are taking a similar path as the football program — a coach with a stellar track record in the pros, but no college head coaching experience.
Malone served as an assistant in Oakland, Providence and Manhattan before moving to the NBA with the New York Knicks in 2001. His first NBA head coaching job was with the Sacramento Kings before cementing his place in Denver.
Mike Krzyzewski hosted a Jimmy V Foundation event in his hometown of Chicago last month. (PK Press Club)
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“Mike is a great coach and a great guy, there’s a learning curve,” Krzyzewski added. “Whatever the reasoning, maybe they’re changing; they now have two professional coaches coaching in college. Their athletic department infrastructure is now going to become more organization-friendly, which I think everyone should do. He knows how to do that, and so does Coach Belichick. Maybe that’s a sign that they’re moving in that direction organizationally.”
Malone is hoping for a better inaugural season in Chapel Hill than Belichick, who returns for another season of football looking to turn things around on the field.
