I must confess, if I were ranking the options that North Carolina was reportedly interested in during the coaching search, Michael Malone wouldn’t have been high on my list. He wouldn’t have been last, mind you, but not right at the top. Well, whether because the top options turning them down, or Malone impressed the powers that be, or some combination of both, he’s now the Tar Heels’ head coach.
In the immediate aftermath of the news breaking on Monday afternoon, you might have seen people around
the internet making jokes comparing this hire to another recent one: Carolina football’s hire of Bill Belichick.
On the surface, it’s easy to see where the jokes come from. In both cases, the eventual choice came somewhat out of nowhere compared to where the discussion started. Both primarily come from a pro coaching background. Malone at least has some college coaching experience, but it was a while ago, and college basketball is in a way different spot than it was then. Also, at least from the outside, it could seem like UNC is eschewing the traditional way of hiring coaches, and trying to make a hire that, if it works, would make them seem smarter than everyone else.
At least so far, every negative that people pointed to about the Belichick hire in football has come true. It’s entirely fair to worry and have skepticism about the same happening with the Malone hire. I myself share some of that skepticism. If I was in charge, I certainly would have explored pretty much all options of going after a college coach who has been in the trenches of the new era of the sport. Whatever tactics the UNC higher-ups tried, we’re here now — and we have a choice.
However skeptical I am, I will firmly claim one thing: this is not remotely the same as the Belichick hire.
When Bill Belichick was let go by the Patriots after the 2023 NFL season, he pretty quickly tried to get back into the coaching game. He had multiple interviews with the Falcons before they ultimately decided to go in another direction. He — or at least people close to him — tried to get himself in the mix with other teams as well.
A year later, Belichick was still available when John Preyer inserted himself into the narrative as UNC tried to find a replacement for Mack Brown. I can’t profess to be a mind reader, but when Belichick then reciprocated the interest, it felt very much like a guy just trying to get back into coaching by any means necessary. While in interviews, he reportedly told people he had a plan for college football, the hires he then made and the staff he surrounded himself very much seemed like he was just “getting the band back together.” It felt very much like a guy spurned by the NFL trying to prove that doing this “his way” would still work and he would be able to steamroll over a bunch of college bozos. Well, maybe some unexpected things can happen in year two, but so far that has backfired spectacularly.
When it comes to Malone, there’s the obvious comparison that he’s a championship coach who was unceremoniously dumped by the team that he led to glory. One major difference that makes me feel at least somewhat better is that by several accounts, Malone could’ve had gotten another NBA gig in the year-ish since he was let go by the Nuggets. Some reports had him as the favorite for the Pelicans’ job that’s currently open, and that he actively picked UNC instead. If you look around the internet, you’ll find fans of NBA teams lamenting the UNC hire with the hopes that their favorite teams could’ve gotten him. Unlike Belichick, Malone still seemed to be of interest for teams.
There’s also the fact that Malone wanting this job seemed to be a UNC-specific thing. His daughter is on the Tar Heels’ volleyball team, and he’s spent some time not only on campus but around UNC basketball specifically. He appears to have a genuine investment on some level and this is more than a “this is who will hire me” move.
It’s entirely possible that all of these arguments we are trying to make are just pure cope and me trying to talk myself into this. As I tried to get across early in this piece, there are plenty of reasons to be unsure of this hire, and plenty of them I subscribe to. It’s just that if Malone flops, I don’t think it’ll be for similar reasons that Belichick has flopped, and I can at least understand what UNC was going for with this hire.
