Overview
- UNC intends to hire former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, multiple outlets reported Monday, less than two weeks after firing Hubert Davis on March 24.
- The pivot followed public commitments from Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Michigan’s Dusty May to stay, with reported interest in Bulls coach Billy Donovan slowed by the NBA calendar.
- Malone, 54, is Denver’s all‑time wins leader and the 2023 NBA champion, and he spent this past season as an ESPN analyst after his 2025 firing by the Nuggets.
- The transfer portal opens Tuesday, pressuring UNC to hire college‑experienced assistants and steady recruiting, and financial terms of Malone’s deal were not yet disclosed.
- WRAL noted he would be UNC’s first men’s coach without direct program ties since 1952, though he has a family link through his daughter on the school’s volleyball team.