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After firing Hubert Davis following a first-round exit in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team has hired Mike Malone as its new head coach. Malone won the NBA title as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
Given the type of money that UNC is able to pay its head coaches and the prestige of the university’s basketball program, Mike Malone making the jump to college ball isn’t overwhelming shocking. Still, such a successful NBA coach taking a step down a level to the NCAA will always be met with speculation.
And in Malone’s case, some NBA fans think his daughter may be the reason he’s heading down to Chapel Hill, as she’s currently a sophomore volleyball player at the university. Depending on her grades and eligibility, Malone could spend about three years with his daughter Bridget at UNC before she graduates.
Basketball fans think Mike Malone’s daughter being a basketball player at UNC influenced his decision to take the head coaching job at the school
Mike Malone’s daughter is a volleyball player at UNC, as @GoodmanHoops notes. This may help explain his shocking college-basketball pivot to coach the Tar Heels. pic.twitter.com/F4TVbGOf0u
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) April 6, 2026
Last week I had a conversation with a source that told me UNC was interested in Mike Malone. It felt random to me until I was told he had been spending time on campus with the basketball team this year…. And because his daughter plays volleyball there @WRAL pic.twitter.com/zVUw9zAGsV
— Chris Lea – Sportscaster (@ChrisLeaTV) April 6, 2026
Six months ago, wearing a UNC hoodie (his daughter plays volleyball in Chapel Hill), new Tar Heels’ basketball coach Mike Malone talked about what he missed about coaching. pic.twitter.com/R5j4fzMhaC
— Langston Wertz Jr. (@langstonwertzjr) April 6, 2026
While Malone does have experience at the college level, that was as an assistant at Manhattan in 2001. He was also previously an assistant at Providence from 1995 to 1998 and Oakland in 1994-95.
“Malone’s reputation as a coach is high in NBA circles, and having the respect of UNC legends Michael Jordan and Roy Williams played a role in the hire. With college basketball becoming more like professional basketball every year, UNC gets a respected X’s-and-O’s coach who worked in the NBA for nearly a quarter century as a head coach and assistant.” [via ESPN]
Prior to being hired at UNC, Malone was serving as an analyst for ESPN after being fired by Denver in April 2025. Malone was the head coach of the Nuggets for a decade and posted a record of 471-327 in that time. He also spent two seasons as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings in 2013 and 2014.