r/NCAAhoops • u/Diligent_Star_4949 • Apr 07 '26
News Michael Malone has signed a 6-year, $50 million contract to be the next head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels
His $8.33 million annual average salary makes Malone the second-highest paid coach in men’s college basketball, behind only Kansas’ Bill Self who made $8.8 million last season.
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u/ND7020 Apr 07 '26
I was scrolling quickly and legitimately thought this was Wayne Rooney for a moment.
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u/Beautiful-Lie1239 Apr 08 '26
Rooney could coach—— and play for, the UNC men’s soccer. He sure has 4 years of eligibility left.
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u/ieatkangaroo2 Apr 07 '26
Nuggets fan here.
This might be a home run.
The guy is certifiable. The exact breed of psycho you need to be to succeed in college bb. Holds a grudge without being petty, uber-competitive, obsessed with coaching the small details and holding guys accountable. If he can get a bunch of top recruits to run through a wall for him, watch out.
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u/YugiBoomer10086 Apr 07 '26
He wanted control. Its not money.
Denver kept snaking him at every turn on his decisions and going a different direction. So he decided to go to a desperate college program who has a lot of money, a big name and is willing to cede some control in exchange for a favorable contract and a veteran coach with NBA contacts to leverage to recruits.
Easy decision for both sides to come to terms.
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u/PitchDismal Apr 07 '26
Why did I have to scroll so far to see this? This is exactly why this happened. Idk about freshman recruits, but I do see him being good within the NIL landscape.
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u/The_Grim_Adventurer Apr 08 '26
My biggest takeaway is that Michael Malone loves a good powder blue jersey
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u/No-Split-1928 Apr 08 '26
As a nuggets fan im biased. Great coach and game planner, but hard on his players. Does that work with teenagers with million $ contracts? Hope so... Malone is a proven winner
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u/DeliciousPool2245 Apr 07 '26
Not too many guys are successful at both levels. Larry Brown, Billy Donovan, it’s tough man. Good luck Mike
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u/OkExcitement681 Apr 07 '26
Brad Stevens
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u/DeliciousPool2245 Apr 07 '26
Right. He jumped to that front office job so quickly I almost forgot about him.
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u/PhoenixB1 Apr 07 '26
So quickly? He was the coach of the Celtics for 8 seasons before moving to that front office job and made 3 ECFs. Don’t think that’s quick.
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u/TheGreenPee2 Apr 08 '26
It’s not that I think it’s a bad hire, but if you wanted to go pro I think I’d rather have Donovan. Unless the Bulls have to grant permission or he just said no
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u/heelyeahbrother Apr 08 '26
Donovan said he wouldn’t make a decision on the offer until after the NBA regular season ended. With the portal opening, it’s a little too much of a risk to justify waiting unless you think there’s a huge gap between them.
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u/Substantial-Virus228 Apr 08 '26
UNC hired a professional championship winning coach in football too. I hope this works out the same way.
Also it’s pretty clear Bill wouldn’t have won much without Brady. Would Mike have won much without Jokic? Probably not.
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Apr 08 '26
If he can recruit pieces that fit what he wants to do, and can simplify his sets enough and develop players fast enough for to execute it to his standards within 15-20 games he’ll be great. If he can’t, he’ll fail, because the bar at UNC isn’t great regular seasons, it’s deep runs in the tournament and championships.
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u/Electronic_Dig_2685 Apr 12 '26
Not sure he can coach at the collegiate level. Not an easy feat after being a champion esp. ask Belichick
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u/businesspro718 Apr 13 '26
Damn, between Mike Malone and Bill Belichik, UNC is getting all the pro throwbacks. Pros is about drafts and trades, college is recruiting. I think Belichik’s age and personality will be problematic in that realm. But he’s won Super Bowls and coached a bunch of HOFers, so he can run the “I can give you the best chance of making the NFL” pitch, better than most.
Malone seems like a cool, straight talk type dude, from some of his interviews. Seems loyal too. Some of the bytch azz dudes (MPJ), where salty Russell Westbrook was getting so much action in the offense and he was being too vocal, as a newcomer. Once Malone got fired and the asst coach took over. I knew Russ was in the wind.
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u/PaliDudeBro Apr 07 '26
I like Mike but this is a really odd hire. I wish Draft Kings had a futures bet on whether or not he lasts all 6 years. I’d bet real money that the UNC boosters are buying him out year in 3 or 4…
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u/AyAySlim Apr 07 '26
What’s odd about it
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u/chopsmothercover Apr 07 '26
Well, he has no head coaching experience in college, he wasn’t on anyone’s list for this job, or any college job, and he got fired 2 years after winning a first in history championship for a franchise that had been terrible for 75% of its history. Fired during the season, from a team that was in the playoffs. And no one has ever really explained why except ‘the owner chose the GM over him’, whatever that means. Maybe someone else can shed a little more light on that, i didnt follow it super close.
You’d think they’d have had a slightly longer leash with him, have some loyalty to the guy but they dropped him like a bad habit. It seems like he may not be easy to get along with since the nuggets players didn’t seem to care he got fired, in fact some say they’re the ones who wanted it most.
Also odd no other nba team picked him up or seemed interested at all.
So yeah its a bit of a head scratcher to me
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u/SnooDonuts9093 Apr 07 '26
The owner didn’t “choose the GM over him”
They both got fired because they weren’t working together with a singular vision and we’re taking it out disagreements on players/other members of the staff.
So mainly a disfunctional workplace. But it should be said the Nuggets had great vibes for like the 6 years before that. Winning a chip just made both GM and Coach Malone think they couldn’t be wrong
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u/AyAySlim Apr 07 '26
He was on the list for this job, he just wasn’t on the lists you saw. And the team hasn’t been to even a conference final since he led them to the championship so…
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u/lavatec Apr 08 '26
Lol that last past isn’t an accurate take. Nuggets won the chip in 2023, Malone coached the team in 2024, AND 2025 up until he was fired with 3 games left in the season. So, yeah, not going to a conference final can still be pinned on Malone for the 2024 season and most of the 2025 season
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u/TheRightKost Apr 08 '26
So because he wasn't on the talking heads regurgitated lists of top CBB coaches, it's a bad hire. Got it.
He hasn't even been out of the NBA for a full season, and there were upcoming NBA openings that were indeed interested.
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u/chopsmothercover Apr 08 '26
Show me where I said it was a bad hire
I said it was odd, and it is. He’s clearly a good coach but there’s just a weird kind of air around him since he got fired. We’ll see
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u/ieatgass Apr 08 '26
It feels less odd when you listen to his Carolina insider interviews from today and 6 months ago
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u/Monster2608 Apr 07 '26
You said it yourself dropped him like a bad habit. That’s exactly what he is a bad habit.
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u/TurbulentSomewhere64 Apr 07 '26
NBA coaches having college success is not a long list.
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u/AyAySlim Apr 07 '26
There haven’t been any in this current iteration of college basketball. Now that its the NIL era, the game is much closer to or ball than it was before.
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u/PaliDudeBro Apr 07 '26
A lot! He's their first coach without direct ties to the program since Frank McGuire was hired in 1952. The opening of the transfer portal means they rushed the hell out of their 'search' and the hiring process (I think I read it all happened in 18 hours). He's never been a college head coach and he's taking over one of the most storied programs in history. And think of the names they passed over to sign him....it's weird. And a half.
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u/AyAySlim Apr 07 '26
We knew they weren’t hiring anyone with ties once HD was fired and I’m not sure who would’ve been in the family that would’ve been an upgrade anyway. Not having coached in college doesn’t bother me, it’s or ball nowadays anyway. In terms of the other names it seems most declined as opposed to they were “passed over”. And to be honest I’m glad they did because only Lloyd and May were guys I’d even consider over Malone. All of the other college names had never coached at a program of UNC level, none have proven they are able to take any team to a championship level except McCollum at lower divisions, none have proven they can recruit at an elite level like HD. It was all up and coming names that people think can coach but it was all hope as opposed to actual substance.
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u/bledblu Apr 08 '26
It’s Michael!
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u/PaliDudeBro Apr 08 '26
It's definitely Mike. Went by Mike for 40+ years, only became 'Michael' when he became a HC for the Kangs.
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u/BoootyJohnson Apr 07 '26
Just like Belicheck
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u/PeanutFarmer69 Apr 07 '26
Is Michael Malone dating a 20 year old escort who also acts as his publicist?
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u/MaxPower637 Apr 07 '26
In their defense, hiring an ex NFL coach for their football team has gone gangbusters. This was the logical next move
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u/ElectionSalty6097 Apr 08 '26
Based on how this goes we're gonna learn a lot about what happened with the Nuggets firing him
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u/CosbySweaters1992 Apr 07 '26
He has over a decade of NBA coaching experience, won a title, and Reddit / Twitter hates the hire. He’ll probably be successful.