Former Nuggets Coach Michael Malone Lands Massive College Gig

Former Denver Nuggets head coach and NBA champion Michael Malone has found a new coaching job.

This time, it's in the college ranks.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, the University of North Carolina has hired Malone to be their next head coach after firing Hubert Davis last month.

Sources: North Carolina intends to hire longtime NBA coach Michael Malone as the school’s next basketball coach. He’s an NBA Championship coach with the Denver Nuggets from the 2022-23 season and has won 510 games as an NBA head coach. pic.twitter.com/JwJmUNRLQT
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 6, 2026

Malone, who was coach of the Nuggets for 10 years from 2015 to 2025, while also coaching at the NBA level dating back to his days as an assistant with the New York Knicks in 2001, now finds himself as the latest big name to land a job in the NCAA, and with one of the sport's most prestigious universities at that.

Michael Malone Lands Head Coaching Job at UNC

Malone, during his time with the Nuggets, found his way to become one of, if not the greatest coach the team has seen since its nearly 60-year history.

Malone is the winningest coach ever in Nuggets history with 798 combined regular season wins, along with a franchise-high 80 playoff wins throughout his tenure in the Mile High, highlighted by his 2023 NBA Finals win, thus cementing the team's first-ever championship victory.

Holding a special spot in the hearts of Nuggets fans, Malone had led the team through some of their brightest moments in recent history, while also watching the development and rise of Nikola Jokic, becoming a three-time league MVP and one of the greatest big men the league has ever seen.

Mar 28, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone during the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Though his time in Denver, despite a tenured history in the building, would be unceremoniously cut short.

At the end of the 2024-25 campaign and a 47-34 regular season record, an up-and-down campaign from the team and some behind-the-scenes turbulence led to the Nuggets firing both him and general manager Calvin Booth just under a month before the postseason kicked off.

Undoubtedly, a franchise-rattling move that would remove their historic coach without any chance of redemption with a deep playoff run, and leave them to turn to a new voice leading the locker room for the first time since the mid-2010s.

They would then decide to promote David Adelman to claim Malone's role, while also shaking up their front office structure by leaving both Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace as the lead decision-makers when it comes to personnel in the front office.

As for where the firing would land Malone, he would find himself transitioned to an ESPN studio analyst role for most of the NBA regular season; a role he performed quite well in, though the writing was on the wall for what Malone's future looked like: he was eager to coach, not break down the game next to Kendrick Perkins and Co.

Now, similarly to how things panned out at the end of his time in Denver, his role will see a drastic shift right before the postseason kicks off, and thus starts a new era in Malone's coaching tenure to try and lead UNC back to its storied greatness.

Sign up for our free Denver Nuggets On SI newsletter, and get breaking Nuggets news delivered to your inbox daily!