UNC hires Michael Malone: Ripple effects for UNC, the ACC and other candidates

UNC has an odd obsession with turning former professional coaches into college coaches. First it was Bill Belichick taking on his first collegiate job with the Tar Heels football program. Now, Carolina is turning to Mike Malone to resurrect its basketball program.

Like Belichick, Malone, who won an NBA title with the Denver Nuggets, is taking his first head coaching job in college after decades in the pros. Also like Belichick, it could either be the start of a new trend or end up being another failed experiment. 

After being spurned by most of the top names in the college carousel, the Tar Heels clearly felt they needed to move quickly and get a start on their offseason. North Carolina is trying to regain its blue blood status, and this just might be the way to do it; Malone's resume is certainly impressive. That said, this is also a nearly unprecedented swing, one that comes with all sorts of variables. Here’s how the Tar Heels, the ACC and the coaching market more broadly will be affected by Malone’s hiring.

What does Mike Malone mean for UNC basketball’s resurgence?

Carolina going the unconventional route in football, where they haven't enjoyed much success historically, is one thing. Doing so with one of the most prestigious basketball programs in the country is another, and there’s only one reason UNC would decide to lean on a former NBA coach: What future one-and-done player wouldn’t want to play under a guy who coached Nikola Jokic and won a championship in preparation for the NBA Draft? Heck, what transfer portal player is going to pass up the chance to play with an NBA coach to boost their draft profile?

This is the ultimate recruiting tactic, and it just might work. If the Tar Heels are using Malone as leverage for recruits, it’s a power move, and one that could help them keep pace in the sport's increasingly fragile pecking order. They lost the institutional advantage of being a historic power when the transfer portal and NIL era overtook college athletics. Hiring Malone could be the best way to take that advantage back as the sport moves toward a more professional model, one in which talent evaluation and roster management are more paramount than ever.

Does hiring Malone mean UNC instantly becomes a powerhouse again? Certainly not. Having a former professional coach doesn’t do much other than fill a spot, and as we’ve learned with Belichick, it’s a hard transition. That doesn’t mean it won’t work either, but what Malone’s bringing for now is a name and some recruiting cache.

Mike Malone adds to legendary college basketball coaching pool

As if it wasn’t legendary enough to have Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Bill Self all in one NCAA Tournament region, now Malone joins a crew of high-wattage coaching names. Malone has a lot to prove on the college level before he enters those sorts of conversations, but it’s a name basketball fans know and have high expectations for. Malone had a lot of success with the Nuggets, after all.

He could very well have a solid tenure with the Tar Heels, but we won’t put him in that tier yet. For now, he’s a name that is recognizable. As far as the conference itself, well, UNC makes their big splash hire that should improve them in the conference. The league simply wasn’t scared of Hubert Davis; Malone is no sure thing, but he should have every resource at his disposal and should be able to draw talent to Chapel Hill while improving things schematically (especially on the offensive end).

Not saying they’ll immediately be scared of Malone, but he at least has more of an intimidating factor than Davis does. UNC can now be a team the other ACC teams can be fearful of again. In the last few years under Davis, the Tar Heels didn’t have that same feeling it had under Williams. Now Tar Heel fans can be a bit more optimistic about basketball. 

What Mike Malone's hiring means for the college basketball carousel

It's kind of similar to the Belichick hiring, in that it will ultimately come down to how Malone does over time. After one year of Belichick, there has been no movement toward former NFL coaches returning to college – if any even want to. There were talks of Billy Donovan possibly taking the UNC job before it was handed to Malone. Could that be the new move?

For now, I don’t think so, but that could certainly change. It’s hard finding the right coach to take over, which is probably why UNC turned to a former NBA coach. There’s a lot that could come from Malone’s hiring, too. Hopefully for UNC’s sake, they get more early success than they got with Belichick. 

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