CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As if that staging was accidental.
As if North Carolina, on the day it formally introduced Michael Malone as its new head coach, just lucked into such perfect positioning. As if it didn’t want to set the tone from tipoff of what is expected of the program’s first “outside the family” hire since Frank McGuire back in 1952.
Because from Malone’s vantage point on Tuesday — atop a makeshift dais at midcourt inside the Dean Smith Center — he could only really look one of two ways:
Out, or up.
30 minutes out from Michael Malone’s introductory press conference.
🕕 6 PM ET📺 @accnetwork 💻 https://t.co/XlcHB1txZk (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/cb90eHhApQ
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) April 7, 2026
Out, at the dozens of former and current players who showed for Malone’s introductory news conference, whose brethren — like Antawn Jamison and Danny Green and Harrison Barnes — vouched for what Malone could do for the program.
Out, at Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, someone Malone credited with having “a profound impact” on him returning to college for the first time since he was an assistant at Manhattan in 2001, proudly beaming from the first row.
Out, at many of the boosters and stakeholders who signed on to giving Malone a lucrative six-year, $50 million contract — some of whom were Googling his name just 72 hours earlier — and are now fully committed to giving him what he needs to restore UNC to the top of the college basketball hierarchy.
That … or Malone could look up.
To the six long sheets of fabric hanging directly in front of him in the building’s rafters: each one commemorating one of UNC’s six NCAA championships.
“I’ve asked our staff to start moving those banners so that we can hang another,” said athletic director Bubba Cunningham. “I don’t want to put any pressure on you, but they’re starting to move them tomorrow.”
He was kidding. Mostly. Because at UNC, a seventh banner is the expectation — especially for such a renowned basketball mind who won the 2022-23 NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets.
In the wake of arguably the most pivotal hire in UNC hoops history, two questions remain:
Why did UNC want Malone? And why would someone set to have his pick of NBA jobs rebuff them all to join the Tar Heels?
After firing Hubert Davis on March 24, UNC quickly identified a top group of candidates: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, Michigan’s Dusty May and Malone, according to multiple sources familiar with the search.
Lloyd and May’s resumes spoke for themselves in terms of modern-era college success. Malone was the relative outlier, or so it seemed. In actuality, he’d spent plenty of time around the program last season when visiting Chapel Hill to see his daughter, Bridget, a member of UNC’s volleyball team.
Through Pat Sullivan — one of Davis’ assistant coaches, whom Malone knew from their overlapping NBA days — Malone attended multiple UNC practices. The first time, a manager led him to the traditional second-level viewing area, only for Davis to call for Malone to join him on the floor. Davis even had Malone address the team, something Malone said he deeply appreciated after being fired by Denver just one year ago.
Malone brought a notebook to those practices, his basketball juices flowing as he scribbled.
“He said, ‘I was not trying to be critical, I was being curious’ — and that’s just the way he is,” said incoming UNC athletic director Steve Newmark. “He’s a basketball junkie.”
Those experiences stood out when the Tar Heels — namely, Cunningham, Newmark, the advisory committee and the search firm TurnkeyZRG — were creating their initial list of candidates. Sullivan recommended Malone. So did Jamison, a member of the advisory committee who played for Malone when he was an assistant in Cleveland, and Green, another former Cavalier. So did Kenny Smith, who starred for UNC from 1983-87 and crossed paths with Malone during his broadcasting career.
But Malone, at least at first, declined UNC’s efforts.
The 54-year-old assumed Newmark called as a courtesy. He was focused on NBA jobs, he told Newmark. College wasn’t really on his radar, but he stayed in touch, asking follow-up questions, leaving the possibility open.
“Every time I said no, I was regretting that,” Malone said. “I thought, I think I’m making a mistake.”
Once Lloyd and May removed themselves from consideration at the Final Four, Newmark and director of basketball operations Eric Hoots — who were in Indianapolis for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) convention — asked Malone if they could fly to his home in Colorado to visit.
On Easter Sunday. To make one final pitch.
“A lot longer than we wanted him there,” Malone joked of the eventual five-hour meeting. “My first reaction when they said they wanted to fly from Indianapolis was like, no … but I’m so happy that they did come, because it changed my mind and changed my wife’s mind — and that night I felt so much better about it.”
It helped that Malone’s father, Brendan, a longtime coach from whom he learned the profession, had always been a UNC and Dean Smith fan, he noted.
“He passed that on to me, and I know he’s looking down tonight and he’s very, very proud,” Malone said. “I wish he was here.”
On Tuesday, Malone wore a DES pin on his lapel: the same one first given out at Smith’s funeral in 2015, which Davis also famously wore.
pic.twitter.com/bkjpoeS1jV
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) April 8, 2026
UNC’s full-court press eventually won Malone over. But so did the fact that his daughter, after hearing his name mentioned for the job, told Malone explicitly: Dad, I want you to come.
“So I did,” Malone said, while joking that came with the understanding that he and Bridget cannot run into one another late at night at Pantana Bob’s, a local bar.
Lastly, UNC sold Malone on being a reverse Larry Brown, of sorts. Brown — who played at UNC under McGuire and Smith — remains the only head coach ever to win both an NBA and NCAA championship. Malone’s already checked the NBA box, but now has another opportunity to forever etch himself in hoops lore.
If the NBA does come calling again, Malone’s buyout to leave is $8 million before April 1, 2027, per his contract, though that figure drops by $1.5 million annually.
Put together, North Carolina — especially Newmark — was resilient enough to convey to Malone just how wanted he was in Chapel Hill. As someone who already had an affection for the place. As someone who could flat-out coach ball. And as someone whose NBA experience would seemingly translate well to a college landscape that increasingly functions like the pros, especially with revenue sharing and NIL payments.
“I have to balance the delicate balance of being true to the past and honoring tradition, while also having my eyes on the future,” Malone said. “The game is always changing. And so if you see us doing things a little bit differently, it’s okay. Embrace that.”
If Malone’s official introduction was any indication, the Tar Heels already are.
