North Carolina reportedly to hire former Nuggets coach Michael Malone to take over program
· Yahoo Sports
It was widely expected that Michael Malone would return to coaching next season. His jumping to college was not.
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Malone, who coached the Denver Nuggets to the franchise's only NBA title, reportedly will soon be announced as the new head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, a story broken by ESPN’s Pete Thamel and since confirmed by other reports.
North Carolina had been big game hunting to replace Hubert Davis, who was fired after the Tar Heels' second consecutive first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament (his teams had won two total tournament games in the past four years and missed the big dance one of those seasons, an unacceptable outcome in Chapel Hill). Reports had linked Bulls coach — and two-time NCAA champion at Florida — Billy Donovan to the job, and he didn’t exactly deny it. Two coaches in the Final Four — Tommy Lloyd of Arizona and Dusty May of Michigan — also were liniked to the job.
Malone came more out of nowhere, but he brings an NBA pedigree that should be a draw for players (that and a large NIL budget). Malone did start his career as a college assistant coach, but the last time he was in the college game was 2001 at Manhattan. Malone is a respected Xs and Os coach, and with the dynamics of college basketball moving closer to those of the professional ranks, the theory is that Malone can step right in and have an impact.
Malone was expected to get a long look from some teams changing coaches this offseason, with reports that the New Orleans had a strong interest in him. With the North Carolina job off the table, it is more likely that Donovan returns to the Bulls. According to Marc Stein of the Stein Line, they want to keep him despite firing Arturas Karnisovas, the executive vice president of basketball operations and decision maker, as well as general manager Marc Eversley, on Monday.