UNC Hires Mike Malone

UNC makes a shocking pivot by firing Hubert Davis and hiring NBA champion coach Michael Malone to lead North Carolina basketball. We break down what this move says about expectations in Chapel Hill and what Malone must do fast to change the optics around the Tar Heels. 
• Hubert Davis’ exit and why the timing feels extreme 
• The rumored coaching candidates UNC seemed to be targeting 
• Why Mike Malone is a surprise hire after his Nuggets title 
• Questions about how much coaching credit a title proves 
• The “keep it in the family” idea and what it even means now 
• The five-year precedent and what counts as real progress 
• What UNC must win: top recruits, Elite Eight runs, ACC banners 
• How the transfer portal could reshape the roster quickly 
• Whether UNC still looks like a blue blood program 
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Transcript

UNC Coaching Shockwave

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show, it's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today, I feel like I've been talking way too much about UNC, but here we go. We're right back at it because they've been in the headlines real recent. Recently, they have fired their coach, Hubert Davis. Hubert took them to the championship game, three points away from winning it just in 2022. And you know, here we are now today. I've already talked about that episode. I've already talked about that on an episode, so you can y'all can go back and listen to that if you want to. But they we heard some names that they were interested in looking at. Like Tommy Lloyd from Arizona, whose team went to the Final Four. Dussie May from Michigan, who's the eventual champion this season. Billy Donovan. He did used to coach in college. Now he went to the NBA and was coaching for the Bulls. And then we had Dan Hurley on Yukon's team, like the coach who just went tit to who just went to the title game. So those were the options that we were that we were hearing, right? And lo and behold, Mike Malone ends up being the new head coach of UNC. I said Mike Malone, which keep in mind, Mike Malone was fired, and I can say recently, because it's still within a year, but he was fired by the Nuggets after winning a title in just 2023. So that's a really quick time. He got fired on April 8th, 2025. Now, keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, they still had three games left to the end of the season. So they didn't even want Buddy to finish out the season. They wanted Buddy to get out as quick as possible. I thought one thing that could have been interesting was if they fired him on April 1st. Because that that, hey, that would have made some news. Oh, this April Fool's Day. They just trolling right now. No, we're being so serious. Like, Buddy, gone. So again, Mike, that that's what we talk about. Michael Michael Michael Malone. All right. Now again, he is a champion head coach. I'll give you that, ladies and gentlemen. But like, how much of that was really him? Because I mean, he he he he behind Nicola Jokic. Like, it'd be one thing if we can say that they've won multiple championships with it, and he probably would have got fired, right? So again, like it there's a couple question marks about Mike as a head coach. Now, I thought UNC was gonna keep it in the family, and I guess they got a little tricky with this one. They thought outside the box because Mike Malone's niece does go to UNC for volleyball. So I guess we gotta be more specific when we say keep it in the family, right? So that made me think, well, dang, what have the previous head coaches been doing at UNC? Like, were they purely from UNC? Have they reached out? Like, talk to me, what's up? So I first wondered how many coaches there were. There were 19 head coaches dating back to 1911, to the 1911 season. Yo, to the noobs. If you know, you know. So Roy Williams was in fact the 18th head coach in UNC's program history. Hubert Davis was the 19th, so now there will be a 20th in Mike Malone. Now, UNC's timeline, this is the timeline I have specifically for Mike Malone. I think the precedent has been set. He got five seasons to show something. Because again, the precedent was already set because Hubert Davis was at UNC for five seasons. And the man went to a championship game. Now, if you can get fired and you went to the title game, yes, you lost, yes, y'all were up. I hear all that stuff. Cool, but there were justifications as to why your teams lost, maybe outside of 2023. I think it's fair to say Mike Malone should get fired if he doesn't have a title appearance or if the optics of UNC is the same. Because again, the precedent is right there, ladies and gentlemen. Now, there's a little caveat to that, because if he's getting like to the Elite Eight and the Final Four every single season, all right, cool. I might be able to stomach that. But again, at minimum, you need to change the optics of UNC because UNC is starting to be questioned, should it be considered a blue blood still? They've been not that relevant. They've been relevant, but not that relevant. That was dating back to the Roy Williams end of his era tenure. So again, it's been like that for a little second now. And and I gotta say, too, if we don't fire Mike Malone, if if he isn't able to perform, or if he's at the same level as Hubert Davis, I know, I know there are gonna be talks about is this a racial issue? Because again, Hubert Davis was black, or is black, not was, so you can't change that. And Mike Malone is white. So again, that racial conversation will spew out there, I promise y'all. Now, how does Mike need to win his job to keep his job? Well, he has to win the top recruits. Which, to be clear, Hubert Davis did get three top ten high school recruits in back-to-back seasons. One each, but that's still three nonetheless. Then, well, respectfully, Mike Ballone has to reach the elite eight during his tenure. Because let's be clear now. If you can win an NBA championship, I think it's fair to say you can at least get to the Elite Eight. And I was hesitant because I was about to say Sweet 16. But I think Elite Eight is fair to say. Because again, it's UNC's program. You should be able to still get quality recruits. You're the coach who won a championship with Nicola Jokic. If you can't swing that, I don't know what, I don't know what to tell you. You also got to win the eight and ACC regular season title as well as an ACC title, meaning you got to have the best record in the ACC, at least during your tenure. And you got to win an ACC tournament title as well. Now, I'm curious how the players who are already recruited are gonna play for Mike Malone. Will they want to transfer? Or will they stick it out with Buddy and then eventually hit the portal? I'm curious how that goes. But let's not forget, too, if you transfer, you only got one time to transfer, too. Which I guess Donald Trump wanted to intervene and spark. But that's what happens now. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I'm curious how the players actually play for Mike Malone. Now, the aftermath for UNC. When I say aftermath, I'm talking about if Mike Malone ends up getting fired. Will UNC go back to the UNC alums? Like I said, keep it in the family might need to be changed to keep it in the basketball player alum family specifically. Maybe. Now, I thought it was interesting to note that Dean Smith did not play at UNC. He played at Kansas State, if I'm not mistaken. Roy Williams did, in fact, play at UNC. Hubert Davis played at UNC, and then Mike Malone probably watched these guys play or coach at UNC. So I'll be curious to see how keeping it outside of the family works going forward. But Mike Malone as the NBA head coach going to college basketball. That is also something to look forward to watching as well, too, because we've seen college players, college coaches get called up to the NBA ranks. Hell, we almost saw Coach K coach the Lakers. I don't think he was gonna do it, but there was a discussion for that. How many times? I just told you, Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls, used to coach Florida. So again, we've seen like Brad Stevens, Butler, now then went to the Celtics. Now there's like we've seen college coaches escalate to the NBA ranks. We don't always see NBA coaches go to play, go to coach college. Now we've seen that a little more recently in sports. Shout out Bill Belichick. But again, ladies and gentlemen, I'm curious if UNC will end up, if they end up needing to fire Mike Malone, will they keep it in the family in terms of basketball players who have played at UNC? And I'm curious who they would try to go after. I've heard Jerry Stackhouse. I've heard Kenny Dajet Smith. It'd be interesting to see what happens. But ladies and gentlemen, I will be paying attention to UNC over the next five seasons because of Michael Malone. So I mean, let's see what happens. I'm sure the Duke UNC rivalry will be there still. So of course I'm gonna put eyes on UNC. But ladies and gentlemen, I'm very curious what UNC is gonna look like over the next five seasons. Will they get back to their winning ways? Will they change how the program is viewed? Or will they keep the status quo? Or will they slip? That could be talked about as well, too. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm curious what's your thoughts about UNC's hiring of Michael Malone as the new head coach. How surprised were you when you heard it? Do you like it? Do you get a good gut feeling about it? I'm curious. But ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.