Monday’s bombshell news that North Carolina is hiring former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone as its next men’s basketball coach sent shockwaves throughout basketball. Malone, who was fired in Denver after the 2024-25 season, will be returning to college basketball for the first time since he was an assistant for Manhattan from 1999 to 2001.
While he hasn’t been part of the college game in the past quarter-century, Malone does have something that no other candidate for the UNC job can claim. He’s got an NBA championship ring as a head coach. Malone — with the help of MVP Nikola Jokic — guided the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA title.
At just 54, he’s still in the prime of his coaching years, and he’s got a personal connection to UNC. His daughter is a member of the volleyball team. He clearly wasn’t North Carolina’s first choice. But after missing on the likes of Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May, North Carolina didn’t want to drag its search out any longer.
The Heels went unconventional, landing someone who has been to the pinnacle of basketball as an NBA champion but who has never worked as a college head coach. Here are the early reactions from our experts on the move.
North Carolina to hire Michael Malone as next basketball coach: Led Nuggets to NBA title in 2022-23
Brad Crawford
Gary Parrish, CBS Sports Senior Writer
I’ve noticed the initial reaction to the hire is mixed — but, all things considered, I don’t mind this move. Or, at least, I understand it. I mean, what were UNC’s other realistic options? The school had already missed on Arizona‘s Tommy Lloyd, was never going to get Michigan‘s Dusty May, and the buyouts for most of the other notable candidates currently working in college were all going to cost multiple millions of dollars. So what hiring Michael Malone now does is close the process before the transfer portal opens and save lots of money that can now be spent on staff and players.
Will it work? As always, we’ll see.
But it’s not like Malone has never been employed on a college campus or recruited college prospects and, either way, “previous college head-coaching experience” has never been less important than it is in this pay-for-play era where recruiting is largely transactional. UNC will have a general manager in place. As long as the school gives that person the resources to roster-build at the top of the sport, and as long as that person does the job well, there’s no reason we shouldn’t look up in November and see one of the biggest brands in college basketball, with an expensive roster, being run by an undeniably competent basketball coach.
Matt Norlander, CBS Sports Senior Writer
This is not a surprise candidate. His name had been referenced to me in the days after Hubert Davis was fired, but as a more distant candidate not among the four or five most desired names on the list. Quite clearly, North Carolina either privately coveted him more than anyone ever truly let leak, or they weren’t sure they were going to be satisfied with their pool of college candidates. As I understand it, Billy Donovan would have been very willing to at least engage in a conversation. He was not a guarantee to say yes — far from it — but he was not going to have any real movement until he was done coaching the Bulls, which isn’t for another six days.
This quite clearly picked up a lot of speed in the past 18 hours or so. Keep in mind, the portal officially opens tomorrow. Whether or not that should have any impact on North Carolina getting a coach in place is certainly up for debate.
Malone might prove to be an incredible college coach in the years to come, but it’s going to take a big lift and a change in pace from what he’s been used to as an NBA coach. The biggest question is can he adapt to the college landscape, navigate what it means to be working in the portal, NIL and all the stuff that comes with that.
David Cobb, CBS Sports Writer
Some say this is like the North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick on the basketball side, but that’s misguided. This is closer to USC hiring Pete Carroll in December of 2000 than it is to North Carolina hiring Belichick.
It’s the pairing of a historically elite but struggling college brand with a recently successful (but fired) professional coach who is still in the prime of his coaching years. Like Malone, Carroll hadn’t worked in the college game for a generation when he showed up at USC, and Carroll needed a season to get his feet beneath him. But once he figured it out, some of the greatest years in program history ensued.
At 54, Malone has accomplished more at the professional level in his coaching career than Carroll had when he took over at USC. He’s got an NBA championship ring and 12 years worth of experience scheming at the highest levels of the sport. Obviously, there will be an adjustment, particularly when it comes to personnel. The most critical question from here is who does North Carolina empower to assemble next season’s roster. It shouldn’t be Malone. While he can be involved, it needs to be someone who is currently involved in the nuances of the unique college basketball landscape.
Isaac Trotter, CBS Sports Writer
This feels all about timing and money. Not having to pay an exorbitant buyout is helpful. Not getting behind in the portal is good, too. Michigan’s Dusty May and Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd choosing to stay makes sense, but when the head coach at Iowa and Iowa State also say ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to North Carolina, it makes me question the true cache of this job. Michael Malone may crush it. We’ll all find out together. But UNC’s inability to poach who it wants signals just how much things have changed in this new era of college basketball.
Cameron Salerno, CBS Sports Writer
Malone was one of the best coaches in the NBA during his time with the Denver Nuggets and the Sacramento Kings. Malone was fired (wrongfully) by the Kings in 2014 after just 104 games, which some may hold against him. However, during his short tenure in Sacramento, he started to build a culture within a losing organization that seemed to resonate. Malone caught on with Denver and helped the Nuggets win a title in 2023. I understand how North Carolina couldn’t afford to wait for the portal opening on Tuesday, but waiting the six extra days to hire Billy Donovan would’ve been the right move.
If UNC didn’t want to wait, ponying up the money to land someone like Vanderbilt‘s Mark Byington would’ve been a much better move. Malone is an excellent basketball coach, but it just doesn’t make a ton of sense on paper. After striking out on Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May, UNC went with the financially safe hire who (obviously) had zero buyout attached. With that said, I don’t love this hire by UNC, but I also don’t hate it.
Eric Bossi, 247Sports Director of Basketball
North Carolina’s hiring of Malone certainly seems to have come out of left field. The North Carolina brand is always going to get a coach in the door, but the hiring of a coach who hasn’t been involved in college basketball in 25 years brings up some pretty big questions on the recruiting front. Yes, Malone’s NBA experience and championship ring are going to be selling points in his favor, but he’s going to have to do some serious learning on the fly about recruiting in the portal and recruiting elite high school players. Given that the portal officially opens tomorrow, Malone is going to have to put together a staff that has some familiarity with the process and he’s going to have to do it fast. Clearly, Malone can coach at an elite level so there’s no questioning him from an X’s and O’s standpoint, but it is going to be interesting to see how quickly he can adapt to the recruiting landscape in 2026.
