Steve Newmark insists UNC job was only offered to Michael Malone

North Carolina Executive Associate Athletic Director Steve Newmark revealed on Tuesday that former Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone, who was eventually hired, was the lone candidate to be offered the job.

Malone was one of a handful of candidates that had been discussed for the job across the past week. A few of these other names included Arizona‘s Tommy Lloyd, Michigan‘s Dusty May, Vanderbilt‘s Mark Byington, and Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan.

“There’s no doubt that we talked and engaged with other people,” Newmark said. “It wasn’t always the people that came out in the press and said they engaged with us. We gave out one offer, and that was to Coach Malone.”

Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd revealed ahead of the Wildcats’ Final Four matchup against Michigan that he was in talks with North Carolina for the head coaching vacancy. However, it was not revealed whether or not he was ever offered the job. Whether or not he was, Lloyd declined to leave Tucson and signed a five-year extension with Arizona.

“I’d also like to let you know that North Carolina is an amazing place. It’s a one of one,” Lloyd said. “It’s an honor to even be considered for that job. The young kid, the college basketball junkie, watching those games from home never thought something like that could happen to somebody like me. North Carolina is a first class organization, and I appreciate them for how they’ve handled this.”

North Carolina seeking return to top of college basketball under Mike Malone

Whoever North Carolina hired, it had to be a big-time name to satisfy the Tar Heel faithful. The program is often lauded as one of the sports’ premier blue bloods, but it has reached just two Sweet Sixteens in the past seven NCAA Tournaments.

Malone most recently coached the Denver Nuggets from 2015-2025. He led the Nuggets to their first NBA Championship in franchise history in 2023. Across his nearly 10-year tenure with the Nuggets, the Queens, NY native led Denver to a 471-327 record.

He was let go with three regular season games remaining in the 2024-25 season, which tied the latest in-season change by any team in NBA history. He had spent the past year working for ESPN as a studio analyst for NBA Countdown, but he now heads to the sport of college basketball as a head coach for the first time.

Malone spent time at Oakland (1994-95), Providence (1995-98), and Manhattan College (1999-2001) before making the leap to the NBA in 2001. He remained in the NBA, gradually rising from the assistant ranks to finally the head coaching ranks, until last season. Malone becomes North Carolina‘s second consecutive coach to make the leap from ESPN, as Hubert Davis served as a college basketball studio analyst prior to returning to the program.

It will be up to Malone to lead North Carolina back to the top of the sport following back-to-back First Round losses in the NCAA Tournament.