Championship coach Michael Malone taps former college head coach Kim English to bolster UNC's recruiting power and navigate the transfer portal.
The North Carolina Tar Heels took a chance on a former NBA championship head coach when they hired Michael Malone to replace Hubert Davis.
Malone has head coaching experience with the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets, winning a championship with the latter in 2023.
While Malone will help the Tar Heels make the best of their roster via development, he has no college head coaching experience, only assistant coaching experience before jumping to the association.
Malone will need to build out a staff to help him recruit, something that is a major responsibility for college coaches.
Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, Malone is expected to hire Kim English to be his assistant coach at UNC. He went 82-81 as the head coach of George Mason and Providence.
"Source: UNC is expected to hire Kim English as an assistant coach under Michael Malone," Thamel posted on X. "English is the former head coach at George Mason and Providence and will give Malone an experienced college assistant."
Fans on social media reacted to the hiring.
"Michael Malone is turning UNC into a G-League team. First an NBA staff now Kim English who couldn’t even win in the Big East," wrote a fan. "The Carolina Family is dead. Hubert Davis and Roy Williams would never have allowed this."
"This is a very solid move by UNC management and Malone sir," posted another. "Kim English has been a head coach at good levels so he knows how to handle pressure and recruiting. This coaching staff is looking very dangerous now for next season."
"Solid hire for Malone to fill out his staff. Although Kim English did not have a great run at providence, he is certainly a good assistant coach who has his pulse on the current landscape of college basketball," believes a poster.
"Malone will have to rely big time on Kim English this offseason."
"Under a guy like Malone at a program like UNC, I expect Kim to thrive and be a top name on the market inside of 3 years. Shame things didn’t materialize in Providence, but he has the makings of an awesome coach. I’ll root for his success," posted another.
English is a key hire for Malone this spring. The move comes as UNC is trying to add talent via the transfer portal.