{"id":705048,"date":"2026-04-08T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705048\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:56:35","slug":"michael-malone-not-looking-back-as-unc-tenure-begins-denver-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705048\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Malone not looking back as UNC tenure begins \u2013 Denver Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Malone stood at a podium inside the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday evening, wearing a Dean Smith lapel pin on his jacket, and did something Denver Nuggets fans haven\u2019t seen in a long time: he looked genuinely at peace.<\/p>\n

The man who coached the Nuggets to their only NBA championship in 2023, who went 471-327 in a decade on Denver\u2019s sideline as the winningest coach in franchise history, is now the head men\u2019s basketball coach at the<\/a> University of North Carolina. UNC is paying him more than $8.3 million per year across a six-year deal \u2014 roughly $50 million total \u2014 making him one of the five highest-paid coaches in college basketball. The guy the Nuggets fired with three games left<\/a> in last year\u2019s regular season, who has taken a few jabs at his old team on ESPN since, just landed one of the most prestigious coaching jobs in all of basketball, at any level. Good for him, it\u2019s deserved.<\/p>\n

If you watched Tuesday\u2019s introductory press conference, it was vintage Malone. Self-deprecating, emotional, fiery, funny. He cracked jokes about UNC executive Steve Newmark not bringing his wife flowers when he flew out to pitch him the job on Easter Sunday. He told his daughter Bridgette, a UNC volleyball player, to stop hanging out at the bars. He playfully corrected a reporter,<\/a> who framed his year away from basketball as a choice \u2014 \u201cYou make it sound like I had a choice. I was fired.\u201d That\u2019s the Malone Denver got to know for a decade. No filter. No polish. Just honest.<\/p>\n

The moments that hit hardest from a a Mile High lens were the ones where his time with the Nuggets kept bleeding through.<\/p>\n

When asked about his basketball philosophy, Malone described the exact culture he built here: \u201cBeing a work team. A team that is completely selfless. Get over yourself. Check your ego out the door. We can accomplish a hell of a lot more as a team. We over me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about style of play, it was the same defensive-first, share-the-ball identity that powered Denver\u2019s title run: \u201cI believe defense wins championships. Your defense is the beginning of your offense\u2026 If you can defend, you can rebound. What does that allow you to do? That allows you to get out and run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuggets fans have heard that sermon before. Now Chapel Hill gets to hear it.<\/p>\n

Back in Denver, the reaction from the current roster was gracious<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShoutout to Coach Malone,\u201d Jamal Murray said. \u201cI think he\u2019ll be great. I think he\u2019ll be a great college coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s gonna be good for him,\u201d Aaron Gordon added. \u201cI think it\u2019ll be a change of pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

And David Adelman, the man who replaced Malone and served as his assistant for years, said the thing that stings a little if you\u2019re a Denver fan: \u201cHe belongs coaching, and that\u2019s what he should be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does. And he\u2019ll be just as good at the college level.<\/p>\n

Malone was emotional Tuesday when he talked about his late father, a high school coach and Smith devotee who passed about two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s looking down today and he\u2019s very, very proud. And I wish he was here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He talked about how being fired forced him to reconnect with his family, to be a better husband and father. He spent the fall at his daughter\u2019s volleyball matches and sitting courtside at UNC basketball practices after Hubert Davis graciously opened the door. But you could tell from the very first word Tuesday night that the man needed to coach again.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople keep asking me, why would you leave a chance of coaching in the NBA again?\u201d Malone said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy decision, but what I kept thinking about was I have a chance to be a part of something special \u2014 the history, the tradition \u2014 to be a part of something much bigger than myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was the only college job he\u2019d ever consider. That any other school, he wouldn\u2019t have even answered the phone. And when Newmark flew to his house on Easter and they spent five hours together, Malone knew: \u201cI\u2019m not only taking this job, I\u2019m attacking this job.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Denver got for a decade. The fire and the love. Malone recalled Gregg Popovich telling him when he landed his first NBA head coaching job in Sacramento: \u201cBe yourself. You\u2019re Irish, you\u2019re fiery, and you\u2019re tough. You can do that only if your players know you love them.\u201d That\u2019s the coach who built Denver\u2019s championship culture, who fought for Jamal when the world doubted him, who unlocked Jokic and turned an afterthought franchise into one he grand marshal-ed in a parade down 17th Street.<\/p>\n

Now the Tar Heels gets their turn with Malone. They\u2019re gonna love it.<\/p>\n

Follow @Shapalicious<\/a><\/p>\n

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