UNC to hire Michael Malone as next men’s basketball coach
Raleigh News & Observer • • general
Key Points:
- North Carolina is set to hire former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone as its next men’s basketball coach, marking a significant shift from their traditional hiring practices.
- Malone, 54, led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023 and has 510 NBA head coaching wins; he was fired last April and subsequently joined ESPN as an analyst.
- Malone’s coaching career began in college and high school before moving to the NBA in 2001, where he served as an assistant for several teams before becoming head coach of the Sacramento Kings and later the Nuggets.
- The hiring reflects UNC’s urgency to stabilize its basketball program amid changes in college basketball, including NIL and the transfer portal, following the dismissal of former coach Hubert Davis after a first-round NCAA tournament loss.
- Malone has personal ties to UNC, as his daughter Bridget is a sophomore on the university’s volleyball team.
.png?format=webp&w=120&h=80)
