It actually happened. The North Carolina Tar Heels have officially hired Mike Malone as the school’s next head coach, the school announced Tuesday.
The news originally broke on Monday that Malone was the Heels’ ultimate choice to replace Hubert Davis after it was widely expected that Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan would get the nod. Several oddsmakers had Donovan as the favorite, but he wasn’t willing to officially discuss the opening with UNC until the Bulls’ season ends on April 12.
Even
so, several insiders said there was a good chance Donovan would have accepted the job if offered, but UNC felt waiting another week was too long since the transfer portal is now open. It’s a similar scenario to the one the Kentucky Wildcats faced in 2024 when they were interested in Donovan but didn’t want to wait a week for him since the portal was already open, so they went with what looked like a panic hire in Mark Pope.
Will Malone be the same for the Heels? Whether it does or not, it’s got to make UK fans feel a little better knowing that not waiting for Donovan did not lead to him coaching at UNC. That would have been a painful pill to swallow.
Speaking of, Kentucky is currently slated to face the Heels in the 2026 CBS Sports Classic, giving Malone an early taste of this blue-blooded rivalry.
