Mike Malone Takes Over as UNC Men’s Basketball Coach

Initially, Mike Malone was not keen on the idea of becoming North Carolina’s men’s basketball coach.

During his introductory press conference in Chapel Hill, Malone shared a touching moment he had with his daughter, Bridget. She’s a freshman volleyball player at UNC and encouraged him to take the job. “My daughter Bridget said, ‘Dad, I want you to come.’ So I did,” he recalled when asked about her reaction.

Malone, who has a long history as an NBA head coach with the Kings and Nuggets, felt hesitant at first. He was concerned about overshadowing his daughter. “She called me and said, ‘Hey, I heard your name was mentioned, would you be interested?’ I said, ‘I don’t think so,'” Malone remembered.

But Bridget insisted, telling him it would be great. “I think I wanted to be a little closer to my mother,” he noted, before reflecting on the challenges his daughter faced being known primarily as Coach Malone’s daughter rather than simply as Bridget Malone.

He praised her for finding her own place and identity at UNC. “I’m so proud of her. This is a remarkable basketball tradition and a great school, which was one reason she came here—she excels both as a student-athlete and in academics,” he said.

Malone expressed concern about potentially stealing the spotlight from Bridget during his tenure. “I asked her, ‘Listen, I don’t want to come here and ruin your party…I don’t want this to take away your spotlight,'” he mentioned, eliciting smiles from Bridget and her mother, Jocelyn, as they sat together.

Malone lightened the mood with a joke, advising Bridget to avoid late-night outings. “You’ve got to come out of the bar and make sure you handle yourself properly. That’s the word from me and the coach,” he said, referring to the UNC women’s volleyball coach.

Malone and Jocelyn also have another daughter, Caitlin.

In his last seven seasons with the Nuggets, Malone achieved an average of over 50 wins, hitting a franchise record of 57 wins in the 2023-24 season and securing the team’s first NBA championship in 2023.

Before taking on the head coach role, he spent 12 years as an assistant coach for several teams, including the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Hornets, and Golden State Warriors.