{"id":1868553,"date":"2026-04-06T18:24:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868553"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:24:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:24:49","slug":"unc-expected-to-hire-michael-malone-ex-nuggets-coach-as-mens-basketball-coach-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868553","title":{"rendered":"UNC expected to hire Michael Malone, ex-Nuggets coach, as men\u2019s basketball coach: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>North Carolina is expected to hire former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone as its next men\u2019s basketball coach, a source briefed on negotiations said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Malone, 54, emerged as a prime candidate after top college options like Arizona\u2019s Tommy Lloyd and Michigan\u2019s Dusty May removed themselves from the process. Malone, who has never been a college head coach and last worked in college as an assistant at Manhattan in 2001, has 12 seasons of NBA head-coaching experience with the Nuggets and Sacramento Kings, and led Denver to an NBA championship in 2023.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>UNC fired coach Hubert Davis after the team\u2019s first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament last month. ESPN first reported Malone as the expected replacement.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>A source familiar with UNC\u2019s search said the school felt pressure to hire a coach sooner rather than later, with college basketball\u2019s transfer portal set to open Tuesday. Malone\u2019s name first started swirling last week, but gained steam over the last 48 hours. Malone\u2019s X\u2019s and O\u2019s acumen and championship resume made him attractive from an on-court standpoint, as did his understanding of modern basketball trends. And Malone\u2019s time with three-time MVP Nikola Jokic means UNC\u2019s new coach is intimately familiar with Jokic\u2019s agent, Mi\u0161ko Ra\u017enatovi\u0107, who represents many of the top international prospects seeking to play college basketball.<\/p>\n<p>Malone\u2019s daughter plays volleyball at UNC, meaning he also spent time around the program over the last year. Malone\u2019s staff will now become one of the most important aspects of his early tenure, given his lack of college experience.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan was also considered a candidate for the role, but the timing did not line up, with the NBA regular season ending Sunday, five days after the opening of the portal.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Carolina is expected to hire former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone as its next men\u2019s basketball coach, a source briefed on negotiations said Monday. Malone, 54, emerged as a prime candidate after top college options like Arizona\u2019s Tommy Lloyd and Michigan\u2019s Dusty May removed themselves from the process. Malone, who has never been a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1868553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1868553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1868553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1868553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1868553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}