University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Carolina Qualities
April 7, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Even before becoming the new Tar Heel head coach, Michael Malone has always had a Carolina connection.
By Adam Lucas
When Michael Malone was first trying to get a foothold in coaching, he wrote letters—yes, the old-fashioned kind that you put a stamp on and drop in the mailbox—to a host of coaches. It was 1995 and he'd just finished an apprenticeship with highly respected Oakland University head coach Greg Kampe, a job that also included cleaning the gym to make a little extra money.
Malone was on the verge of pursuing a career in law enforcement. But first he wanted to blanket the country with letters to see if he might find an opportunity in coaching. He didn't want to abuse the connections created by his father, Brendan's, lifetime in the game, so he sent the letters on his own.
The very first college coach to respond was Dean Smith. He'd just finished coaching Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace to the Final Four, and he was bringing in a pretty good high school class that included Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. But first he wanted to write back a relatively unknown youngster and let him know the Tar Heels didn't have any openings on their coaching staff at the time.
Thirty-one years later, Michael Malone has finally landed an opportunity with Carolina Basketball. He was named the program's new head coach on Tuesday.
It's an eventful moment for one of the sport's signature brands. Malone's hire marks the first Carolina head coach without direct UNC ties since Frank McGuire was hired in 1952. McGuire, a native New Yorker, had caught the eye of the Tar Heel administration by bringing his St. John's squad into Reynolds Coliseum and defeating powerful Everett Case and NC State. Malone, a native New Yorker, first became acquainted with Chapel Hill when his daughter, Bridget, attended volleyball camp at Carolina and later earned a scholarship on Mike Schall's team.
As nothing more than a volleyball dad, Malone spent a week in Chapel Hill this fall. He went to Carmichael for volleyball games, visited the Smith Center for a handful of basketball practices, and generally soaked in one of the very best times to be in the Southern Part of Heaven.
"I've fallen in love with Chapel Hill," he said in October when he stopped by the Carolina Insider podcast studio.
It was a place he already knew well. "From all the times I heard my dad talk about Dean Smith and Carolina when I was a little kid," Malone said, "I've always been a Carolina fan."
But never an official Tar Heel until Bridget matriculated at Carolina. Fifteen months after she enrolled in January of 2025, her father accepted one of the most important coaching jobs in the world of basketball. Malone had other opportunities. An NBA world champion just three years ago, he's a sought-after coach at the highest level.
It was those professional connections that helped lay the groundwork for his candidacy for the Carolina job. He was on a Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff for a team that included Antawn Jamison and Jawad Williams. He coached Danny Green. His New York background (he was born in Queens, just a quick A train subway ride from McGuire's birthplace of Greenwich Village) includes a connection with Ed Cota. All of those players supported his candidacy.
And as Carolina sought a new head coach, a former player who was instrumental in the search was Jamison—who was just arriving in Chapel Hill around the time a young Malone was penning that letter to Dean Smith.
"The whole time we were involved in this search, I was thinking about Coach Smith," said Jamison, whose love for the University and passion for finding the right candidate has caused him some sleepless nights over the last two weeks (a very worthwhile full interview with Jamison about Malone's credentials and Jamison's role on the search committee is available on today's Carolina Insider).
"Coach Malone is a guy who genuinely embodies all the characteristics of Carolina Basketball," Jamison said. "He sat down and talked about Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Roy Williams and Hubert Davis. He said he knows what Carolina Basketball is about and he wants to continue to do the things that helped get Carolina where it is today and take it into the future."
Malone will have an opportunity to expand on his vision for the program when he is introduced at a press conference later today. But suffice it to say that he understands the very high standards.
Part of his discussion with athletic directors Steve Newmark and Bubba Cunningham included Malone expounding on the need to be in regular ACC and NCAA championship contention, and reopening a regular NBA Draft pipeline from Chapel Hill. Before ever accepting the job, he'd already studied recent Tar Heel teams with a coach's trained eye, both on film and using analytics. In conversations during the search process, he specifically cited exact Tar Heel team defensive rankings in the Synergy Sports database, indicating just how deeply he'd pored over his potential new team.
But he's also well aware that accepting the Carolina job means more than just diagramming plays on a white board. Wanting to make sure he wasn't elbowing his way into a closed society, he asked Newmark and Cunningham, "How will the Carolina Family feel about an outsider?" It's a safe bet he'll immediately get started on ensuring he has a lifer's knowledge of the family. Even before arriving in Chapel Hill today, he's already reached out to numerous former players.
"He said, 'Antawn, I can't do this by myself,'" Jamison said. "Carolina Basketball is not Carolina Basketball and this won't work if I don't have the support of former players."
Jamison appreciated the candor. Then he listened as Malone described some of his core beliefs as a coach. "He started talking about the qualities he brings to the table," Jamison said. "I said, 'Coach, a lot of those qualities you mention are what Carolina Basketball is about."
Malone will get the chance to describe those qualities in detail at today's press conference. Even before taking the podium, though, he already knows the lingo.
As the conclusion of one of his conversations with Carolina's athletic directors, he grinned. "My daughter tells me there's a saying down in Chapel Hill," Malone said. "So I would say this is a great day to be a Tar Heel."
When Michael Malone was first trying to get a foothold in coaching, he wrote letters—yes, the old-fashioned kind that you put a stamp on and drop in the mailbox—to a host of coaches. It was 1995 and he'd just finished an apprenticeship with highly respected Oakland University head coach Greg Kampe, a job that also included cleaning the gym to make a little extra money.
Malone was on the verge of pursuing a career in law enforcement. But first he wanted to blanket the country with letters to see if he might find an opportunity in coaching. He didn't want to abuse the connections created by his father, Brendan's, lifetime in the game, so he sent the letters on his own.
The very first college coach to respond was Dean Smith. He'd just finished coaching Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace to the Final Four, and he was bringing in a pretty good high school class that included Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. But first he wanted to write back a relatively unknown youngster and let him know the Tar Heels didn't have any openings on their coaching staff at the time.
Thirty-one years later, Michael Malone has finally landed an opportunity with Carolina Basketball. He was named the program's new head coach on Tuesday.
It's an eventful moment for one of the sport's signature brands. Malone's hire marks the first Carolina head coach without direct UNC ties since Frank McGuire was hired in 1952. McGuire, a native New Yorker, had caught the eye of the Tar Heel administration by bringing his St. John's squad into Reynolds Coliseum and defeating powerful Everett Case and NC State. Malone, a native New Yorker, first became acquainted with Chapel Hill when his daughter, Bridget, attended volleyball camp at Carolina and later earned a scholarship on Mike Schall's team.
As nothing more than a volleyball dad, Malone spent a week in Chapel Hill this fall. He went to Carmichael for volleyball games, visited the Smith Center for a handful of basketball practices, and generally soaked in one of the very best times to be in the Southern Part of Heaven.
"I've fallen in love with Chapel Hill," he said in October when he stopped by the Carolina Insider podcast studio.
It was a place he already knew well. "From all the times I heard my dad talk about Dean Smith and Carolina when I was a little kid," Malone said, "I've always been a Carolina fan."
But never an official Tar Heel until Bridget matriculated at Carolina. Fifteen months after she enrolled in January of 2025, her father accepted one of the most important coaching jobs in the world of basketball. Malone had other opportunities. An NBA world champion just three years ago, he's a sought-after coach at the highest level.
It was those professional connections that helped lay the groundwork for his candidacy for the Carolina job. He was on a Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff for a team that included Antawn Jamison and Jawad Williams. He coached Danny Green. His New York background (he was born in Queens, just a quick A train subway ride from McGuire's birthplace of Greenwich Village) includes a connection with Ed Cota. All of those players supported his candidacy.
And as Carolina sought a new head coach, a former player who was instrumental in the search was Jamison—who was just arriving in Chapel Hill around the time a young Malone was penning that letter to Dean Smith.
"The whole time we were involved in this search, I was thinking about Coach Smith," said Jamison, whose love for the University and passion for finding the right candidate has caused him some sleepless nights over the last two weeks (a very worthwhile full interview with Jamison about Malone's credentials and Jamison's role on the search committee is available on today's Carolina Insider).
"Coach Malone is a guy who genuinely embodies all the characteristics of Carolina Basketball," Jamison said. "He sat down and talked about Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Roy Williams and Hubert Davis. He said he knows what Carolina Basketball is about and he wants to continue to do the things that helped get Carolina where it is today and take it into the future."
Malone will have an opportunity to expand on his vision for the program when he is introduced at a press conference later today. But suffice it to say that he understands the very high standards.
Part of his discussion with athletic directors Steve Newmark and Bubba Cunningham included Malone expounding on the need to be in regular ACC and NCAA championship contention, and reopening a regular NBA Draft pipeline from Chapel Hill. Before ever accepting the job, he'd already studied recent Tar Heel teams with a coach's trained eye, both on film and using analytics. In conversations during the search process, he specifically cited exact Tar Heel team defensive rankings in the Synergy Sports database, indicating just how deeply he'd pored over his potential new team.
But he's also well aware that accepting the Carolina job means more than just diagramming plays on a white board. Wanting to make sure he wasn't elbowing his way into a closed society, he asked Newmark and Cunningham, "How will the Carolina Family feel about an outsider?" It's a safe bet he'll immediately get started on ensuring he has a lifer's knowledge of the family. Even before arriving in Chapel Hill today, he's already reached out to numerous former players.
"He said, 'Antawn, I can't do this by myself,'" Jamison said. "Carolina Basketball is not Carolina Basketball and this won't work if I don't have the support of former players."
Jamison appreciated the candor. Then he listened as Malone described some of his core beliefs as a coach. "He started talking about the qualities he brings to the table," Jamison said. "I said, 'Coach, a lot of those qualities you mention are what Carolina Basketball is about."
Malone will get the chance to describe those qualities in detail at today's press conference. Even before taking the podium, though, he already knows the lingo.
As the conclusion of one of his conversations with Carolina's athletic directors, he grinned. "My daughter tells me there's a saying down in Chapel Hill," Malone said. "So I would say this is a great day to be a Tar Heel."
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