The North Carolina Tar Heels are making a shocking move in the college basketball world on Monday afternoon.
ESPN college basketball insider Pete Thamel is reporting that UNC is intending to hire former NBA champion head coach Mike Malone to serve as the next head coach of the historic program.
UNC fired head coach Hubert Davis following the 2025-26 season. The Tar Heels were upset in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. UNC, a No. 6 seed, fell to No. 11 seed VCU.
Now, UNC is jumping on a stunning hire.
"Sources: North Carolina intends to hire longtime NBA coach Michael Malone as the school’s next basketball coach. He’s an NBA Championship coach with the Denver Nuggets from the 2022-23 season and has won 510 games as an NBA head coach," Pete Thamel reported on Monday.
Malone helped lead the Denver Nuggets to an NBA championship in 2023. He's won more than 500 games as a head coach.
But this is still a surprising move.
Fans react to UNC's surprising hire
"An NBA Champion moving to the NCAA? This is a seismic shift for North Carolina. Malone’s ability to develop talent like Jokic and Murray is exactly what a blue blood program needs in the NIL era. His tactical discipline will be a massive culture shock for the ACC," one fan wrote.
"Absolutely STUNNED. In no world did I see this coming," one fan added.
"Wouldve guessed maybe 1000 people before michael malone. What a great hire," one fan added.
"Stunning, no experience in the NIL college era, good coach though, will be interesting!" one fan added.
It'll be pretty fascinating to see how Malone works at the college basketball level. Clearly, he can coach.
