New coach Michael Malone sparks Smith Center banner rearrangements as UNC aims for championship glory and a fresh era.
On Tuesday, North Carolina revealed a couple of changes centered around its basketball program.
On Monday, multiple reports surfaced that the Tar Heels were set to hire Michael Malone as their new basketball coach. Malone was the head coach of the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets in the NBA.
Malone won the 2023 NBA Finals with the Nuggets, but was fired before the 2025 playoffs. He was expected to be a candidate for the New Orleans Pelicans and Orlando Magic this spring.
On Tuesday, UNC made the hiring of Malone official. The program is set to pay him nearly $8.3 million per season for the next six years.
The Tar Heels hope the investment pays off with a national championship or two.
During Malone's introductory news conference, UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham said staff will start moving banners around on Wednesday to prepare for a future title.
"Larry Brown is the only coach that has won a national championship and won an NBA championship," Cunningham said, via ESPN.
"You have won an NBA championship already, and I've asked our staff to start moving those banners so that we can hang another. I don't want to put any pressure on you, but they're starting to move them tomorrow."
Malone joined the Tar Heels in part because if its dynamic history. While he's from outside the UNC family, the head coach wants to nod to the past while brining the program into the future.
"I am an outsider coming into a really intimate family," Malone said. "I have to balance -- the delicate balance of -- being true to the past and honoring tradition, while also having my eyes on the future. The game is always changing.
And so if you see us doing things a little bit differently, it's OK. Embrace that. It's OK... I have a tremendous amount of respect for what this program and the history that they occupy and NCAA basketball history, but we're going to do it our way."
Malone has shown his skillset as an impressive coach in the NBA. With that being said, he's going to have to learn how to recruit and fundraise, something he never had to deal with during his time with the Kings and Nuggets.