Former NBA champion head coach Michael Malone decided to take the North Carolina Tar Heels head coaching job, a move that came somewhat out of nowhere. Malone has proven at the highest level that he can win, but the college game is a lot different than the NBA. That isn't to say that he won't find success in Chapel Hill, but he's going to have a lot to consider.
Ultimately, a lot of this will fall on what Malone thinks he can do.
From the sound of things, he has a lot of respect for the program and understands, especially after being let go by the Denver Nuggets, that he has to win at North Carolina if he wants to have the coaching career with the Tar Heels that he's expecting.
“Really thankful for this opportunity,” Malone said, per ESPN. “I do not take it lightly. And people keep asking me, ‘Coach, why would you leave a chance of coaching in the NBA? You’re an NBA coach.’ We won a championship in Denver in 2023.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but what I kept thinking about was, I had a chance to be a part of something special, the history and tradition. Be a part of something much bigger than myself. This was the only college job I ever considered. Any other job, I wouldn’t even answer the phone.”
It's not surprising that North Carolina landed such a well-respected basketball figure, one who coached arguably the best player in the NBA right now and a top-15 player of all time, and also won a championship.
However, what made it surprising was that Malone wasn't really mentioned as a potential candidate. Nonetheless, it sounds like he's very happy with his decision and should do all the right things in North Carolina.
To start things off, he'll have to put together a strong staff, and he's already spoken about his plan for that.
“I’m going to surround myself with the best people possible to help me get a better grasp [on college basketball] so we can attack it,” he said. “And as I hire my staff, I want to hire guys that have great contacts, not only in the country, but around the world. So we can continue to bring the best players here and help them develop, so we can field the best team.”