CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Michael Malone walked into a room full of reporters waiting to ask him about a tougher-than-expected win in his coaching debut at blueblood program North Carolina, then offered a quip that certainly captured the mood.
“You guys have as much fun as I did?” Malone said. “Welcome to the roller coaster.”
The man who coached the NBA’s Denver Nuggets to an NBA championship 3 1/2 years ago had just watched his Tar Heels have to push through the final six minutes to beat Western Carolina 80-72 on Monday night. That opened a chapter that represents the program’s first major break from decades of “Carolina Family” coaches rooted in the tenure of late Hall of Famer Dean Smith.
Little came easily, notably with the Tar Heels’ preseason rebounding concerns continuing into this game with the Catamounts finishing with a 41-32 edge and nearly doubling the Tar Heels on the offensive glass (13-7) in a performance guard Terrence Brown called “a nasty game.”
“We’ll take a win,” forward Neo Avdalas said. “But I think we can play better. I’m not that happy with the game tonight.”
Maybe that explained why Malone initially wanted to just head back to the locker room afterward when told the school wanted to briefly present him with the game ball in honor of win No. 1. He acquiesced when he saw the presentation wasn’t just from athletic director Steve Newmark, but also retired Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams — who had left his customary seat next to the home tunnel and waited at the foul line nearest North Carolina’s bench.
Malone, who shared a pregame handshake with Williams as he emerged from that tunnel, had a hearty hug for Williams during that postgame presentation.
“I looked over and they had grabbed Coach Williams,” Malone said. “I said, ‘Well if Coach Williams is out here, I’m definitely going to do it.”
“I’m looking forward to having that opportunity to walk through that tunnel,” Malone said Friday as he looked ahead. “And I often reflect on the fact that I am sitting in the same seat that guys like Dean Smith sat in, Bill Guthridge, Roy Williams, Hubert Davis and other guys as well.”
The school fired Davis in March, then pursued Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd before locking up Malone for his first college head-coaching job.
Davis, a player under Smith and assistant under Williams, lasted five seasons in a tenure with plenty of highs, notably an unexpected run to the NCAA championship game in 2022 and an Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in 2024. The problem was there were also wild swings of inconsistent results that didn’t align with North Carolina’s status as a basketball blueblood with six NCAA championships and more Final Four trips (21) than any other program.
Malone is in the first stages of tackling that issue.
There’s been an aggressive bid to upgrade the Tar Heels’ recruiting with more of a throwback to the program’s days of chasing the biggest names. That approach netted its first big win Friday with the commitment of forward DeMarcus Henry, the No. 2 recruit in the 2027 class.
This year’s roster, however, is a more pressing concern.
“It’s going to be probably a different guy for us every night,” Malone said. “And we have to stop fighting that sometimes. We have to embrace that, that’s who we are. If we can just start trusting, must trust more.
“When we do it, we look really good. When we stop trusting, we look like a team that is just not operating on the same page.”
Yet Malone also said the Tar Heels are starting the year as a team that “takes two steps forward, three steps back” with an inability to sustain good stretches. The rebounding, in particular, stands out as a massive concern with stats like the 6-10 Stevenson and starting freshman big man Sayon Keita, each managing just two rebounds in this one.
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Malone said. “And I have to remind myself constantly that this really is going to be a process. Thankful we got the win tonight, always much easier and better to clean up things after a win. But the emotions were I’m thankful to get that first one.”
