{"id":588677,"date":"2026-04-07T19:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588677\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:49:08","slug":"north-carolina-hires-nba-championship-winning-coach-michael-malone-to-lead-tar-heels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588677\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina hires NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone to lead Tar Heels"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina has officially hired NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone<\/a> to lead the Tar Heels\u2019 basketball program.<\/p>\n

The school announced Malone’s hiring on Tuesday and scheduled an introductory news conference for later in the day. Malone will replace Hubert Davis, who was fired March 24<\/a> after five seasons as the successor to retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement, UNC executive associate athletic director Steve Newmark described Malone as a \u201cselfless teacher and innovator.\u201d<\/p>\n

“He is a brilliant coach who will deliver a modern and disciplined approach to leading our men\u2019s basketball program, which is critical in the current landscape of college athletics,” said Newmark, who will succeed Bubba Cunningham as AD on July 1. “Carolina Basketball is unique and special \u2014 and we have hired a leader well-suited to continuing our championship tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 54-year-old Malone spent 12 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, including a 10-year run in Denver. He led the Nuggets to the 2023 championship<\/a> behind three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets fired Malone last spring<\/a> with less than a week left in that regular season.<\/a> Almost a year to the day, in another surprise move, Malone is taking over a blueblood program with six national titles, a record 21 appearances in the Final Four and alums including Michael Jordan, James Worthy Vince Carter and Atlantic Coast Conference career scoring leader Tyler Hansbrough.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarolina is one of the most historic programs in college basketball, and I am honored to be the head coach of the Tar Heels,\u201d Malone said in a statement. \u201cIt is humbling to follow so many legends in Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know from the many Tar Heels in the NBA how special the Carolina Basketball Family is, and I will do everything I can to continue UNC\u2019s championship legacy while preparing our players for professional careers and life after basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019 firing opened one of the top jobs in college basketball for only the fourth time since the late Hall of Famer Dean Smith\u2019s retirement after 36 seasons in October 1997. The job had stayed in the \u201cCarolina Family\u201d ever since. Longtime assistant Bill Guthridge replaced Smith, followed by former UNC player Matt Doherty, former Smith assistant Williams and then Davis, who played under Smith and worked on Williams\u2019 staff.<\/a><\/p>\n

Malone has never been a college head coach and has spent most of his career in the NBA. His primary connection to UNC athletics is the presence of daughter Bridget on the Tar Heels\u2019 volleyball team, while he told the UNC athletic department\u2019s \u201cCarolina Insider\u201d podcast<\/a> in October that he had attended multiple recent basketball practices \u2014 with Davis even asking him to speak to the team at least once.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a> and here<\/a> (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Carolina has officially hired NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone to lead the Tar Heels\u2019 basketball program. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[224450,224453,49,48,224455,87460,3004,224451,459,5725,82,224452,224454,132413],"class_list":{"0":"post-588677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-bill-guthridge","9":"tag-bubba-cunningham","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-hubert-davis","13":"tag-james-worthy","14":"tag-michael-jordan","15":"tag-mike-malone","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nikola-jokic","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-steve-newmark","20":"tag-tyler-hansbrough","21":"tag-vince-carter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}