People are not talking about the right thing when they talk about how many people didn’t take the UNC coaching job before Michael Malone decided to hop on board.
There’s been some talk from folks outside of UNC Basketball — maybe even some inside the UNC fanbase — that the fact that Carolina couldn’t just walk out and hand pick someone to take over the job that they wanted reveals that the school is no longer an elite job. “If the Carolina job meant so much,” the thinking goes, “then why did so many
people turn them down?”
The thing is, though, that’s the wrong question. The real question that was answered was, “What is it about the Carolina job that resulted in such a unique search?”
Being the basketball coach at UNC carries with it a really distinct history, one that’s barely matched anywhere in college basketball. Only other blue-blood institutions can contend with what “Head Coach at the University of North Carolina” means, and that’s before you consider that for the better part of seven decades the title was held by someone named Dean Smith or had a direct tie to that name. It’s coaching a team that has all but one of their NCAA titles from that line, and has perhaps the most unique “family” aspect up and down basketball that no other program can match.
It’s like being the manager of the New York Yankees, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, or head coach of the Boston Celtics. When you have that title your mind instantly transports to names like Torre, Lombardi, Auerbach. When you accept a job at one of these clubs, it comes with an increased amount of weight. The history combined with the pressure to win by the fanbase is heavier at these clubs, which also means that it takes a certain type to both accept those jobs, as well as a certain type to even be considered.
This is something that UNC hasn’t ever experienced. Since Dean Smith’s retirement, there have been three coaching searches, and they all centered around Roy Williams in one way or another. Hiring outside the UNC family wasn’t even considered when Williams said no the first time — the Matt Doherty hire was supported partly by the fact he was an assistant at Kansas under Williams, and Williams basically orchestrated the hiring of Hubert Davis when he stepped down in 2021.
Thus, whomever took this spot knew they not only were taking on the weight of the title, they had the increased weight of being the first true outside hire since Frank McGuire 1952. That is a lot of pressure. The pressure, by the way, was confirmed in the eyes of several when the school was willing to fire Hubert Davis for “only” getting to the NCAA’s first round two years in a row. Yes, we know that the reasoning was a lot more complex, and when you looked at his resume as a whole the move made sense, but if you’re a coach who just knows what it means to be the coach at Carolina and that they are willing to fire someone who achieves what most coaches consider a successful run, you’re going to think long and hard about taking the job.
Add to this some of the people that Carolina reportedly weren’t even going to speak to — specifically Nate Oates and Todd Golden — and you have a situation where, if you were in charge of someone who Carolina did want to speak to, you knew what it would take to keep them there. Coaches that could have come received massive raises and extensions and Carolina still reached out to some of them to see if they would come. Arizona had to create a package that is unique not only in college basketball but across revenue college sports to retain Tommy Lloyd. Thus, all of these institutions were faced with the challenge of “what can we do to make it so much better here that they are willing to say that the pressure of the UNC job would be too much?”
It’s notable that the choice ended up being a coach who didn’t have a boss that could fire the GM staff around him or promise him unlimited power over his program. In Michael Malone, all Carolina had to do was convince him and him alone. As a NBA Title-winning coach, he is at least somewhat aware of the constant pressure that the seat can hold. His father admired Dean Smith and helped developed the defense against Michael Jordan for the Detroit Pistons — hat tip to Joe Giglio for pointing out that bit of history — and thanks to his daughter playing here, it seems Coach Malone had some idea as to the unique culture around the school. It’s understandable why Steve Newmark and Eric Hoots fought hard to convince him. In the end he declined the opportunity to pick a reported myriad of NBA openings to take on this challenge.
His selection has spurred podcasts across the country that normally don’t talk UNC Basketball to talk the move, and not in a Bill Belichick “what are you doing?” way. His hiring was announced in sports updates all across the country, including Boston sports radio that gives zero cares about college sports.
Malone instantly becomes THE story in college basketball next season, and expect that to be reflected in the TV schedule for the Tar Heels once the full schedule comes out. We already know they’ll play three SEC teams in Georgia, Kentucky at MSG, and another one on the road in the ACC/SEC Challenge, which is almost guaranteed to be a team like Arkansas or Alabama. They are also heading to Georgetown where the Big East TV contract applies, and host Butler. This is before we know what sort of Thanksgiving games they’ll play, and as the for-profit machine rolls along, look for someone to try and create a matchup for Carolina both in the fall and in the spring.
The last two weeks showed that UNC is still a basketball program that is unlike few if any others in the country. Any talk of it not still being one of if not the top job in college basketball is just fodder for the hot take machines, and now Michael Malone faces the task of keeping it there.
