Michael Malone is back in coaching — at North Carolina

If Michael Malone thought he felt pressure with the Denver Nuggets, well, he ain’t seen nothing yet.

Because according to reports, he just stepped into arguably one of the two biggest pressure cookers this country’s basketball culture has to offer — and he did so willingly.

As first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the only coach to ever lead the Nuggets to an NBA title will become the new head coach at North Carolina, ending a one-year exile that began when the Nuggets fired him and Calvin Booth three games before the regular season ended last year.

It’s a curious hire for the Tar Heels, given that the recent track record of NBA coaches who go to the college ranks for top-level head-coaching jobs is shaky.

Fred Hoiberg eventually found success at Nebraska after three seasons with the Chicago Bulls, but he had a stellar five-season run at Iowa State — his alma mater — that preceded his years in Chicago. Mike Woodson’s tenure at Indiana was a debacle; the Hoosiers missed the NCAA Tournament entirely in his final two years on the job before firing him after four disappointing seasons.

Ex-NBA assistants Juwan Howard and Patrick Ewing did poorly in returning to their alma maters — Michigan and Georgetown, respectively — and were eventually sacked, with the Hoyas going 13-50 — including 2-27 in conference play — in Ewing’s final two seasons.

Certainly, the model for college basketball has shifted seismically in recent years, with programs at the highest level coming to resemble NBA operations in scope, complete with a general manager and personnel devoted to analytics and scouting. Carolina will bank on Malone’s experience in that regard to navigate a transition that had been rocky under former coach Hubert Davis, who appeared behind the curve as the program seemed to have one foot in the past while trying to lurch forward as it struggled to keep pace with its arch-rivals, Duke.

MALONE LAST COACHED IN COLLEGE 25 YEARS AGO

Malone left for the NBA in 2001, joining the New York Knicks’ staff after two seasons as an assistant at Manhattan College under Bobby Gonzalez, who he followed from the University of Virginia, where Gonzalez was an assistant and Malone the director of men’s basketball administration.

Prior to that, Malone worked three years at Providence College as an assistant coach and another year at Oakland University, then in Division II.

Carolina offers plenty of resources; its NIL budget has been and is expected to remain one of the loftiest in men’s college basketball. But Malone will have to stare down the colossus at Duke eight miles away, and he’ll have a fan base and a well-resourced collection of boosters who demand success — and won’t have patience for a learning curve of re-adjustment to the college game.

Malone arrives in Chapel Hill with a connection; his daughter, Bridget, attends North Carolina and plays on its volleyball team. In the past season, the elder Malone was seen attending games — including one where former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth was on the other side watching his own daughter, who plays for Wisconsin, during an NCAA Tournament game.

Still, that connection won’t buy Malone much grace.

Good luck. Malone’s gonna need it.

Related

Another new team enters the Peyton Watson sweepstakesSpencer Jones opens up about free agency on LinkedInThe addition of DeMar DeRozan would transform the NuggetsIt’s hard to imagine the Nuggets taking on the repeater tax next seasonReport: Nuggets offer Peyton Watson way less money than Christian BraunNuggets give David Adelman some help, hire Dave Joerger