BREAKING: UNC hires Michael Malone as Head Basketball Coach | EMERGENCY Podcast

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What is up everybody and welcome to an emergency pod edition of the DMVR Nuggets Podcast

presented by Xfinity. Imagine that.

We might have to change the name or alter the name emergency.

I don't know if I would classify this quite as an emergency, but we wanted to talk about it.

We figured you wanted to hear about it, so here we are.

Michael Malone has a new job.

He took almost exactly one year off.

Like I think it was around this time, he was fired last year.

So almost exactly one year, but now he is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels,

one of the premier college hoops jobs out there.

I got Harrison wind here to talk about it.

Look man, I love talking about Michael Malone.

So any chance we get to talk about this guy, I'm here for it.

We also have Brendan Vote in the house.

He's already reached out to me. I'm a part of the staff.

So my bags are packed. I'll see you guys around.

That would be incredible.

That would actually be a great way for you to quit the job too.

Oh, he thought I was here for the show.

Just letting you guys know maybe you guys know I'm out of here.

Oh, I guess Adam's out of here as well.

Well anyways, we're presented by Xfinity on this emergency show talking about Michael Malone

taking the North Carolina job.

I think Adam's coming back. There he is.

I tried to scooch over on something and ended up hitting backspace.

Terrible, terrible move.

Tough scene.

No, so we actually had heard this rumor.

I don't know, maybe two, three weeks ago.

Kale of all people had the rumor.

I've had everyone else.

Kale's got the sources, man.

Kale's got the source.

He's plugged in behind the scenes in college.

He's right about the suns. He's right about the moon.

Like, what are we going to do?

This really truly has been the worst year.

Kale knowing everything.

Kale's winning.

Oh god, it's tough.

No, but I think it's fascinating, man.

I'm going to go out and say it.

There's conversation already.

You know, oh, is it going to work?

Is it not going to work?

I think this is such a perfect fit for Michael Malone.

Because my first thought is getting another head coaching job is always tough,

because usually it's somebody fired their coach.

So some of those are good jobs,

but a lot of them are oftentimes slow build, whatever.

Michael Malone won a champion champion did all these things.

So the NBA, I was kind of always like,

I don't know.

I don't know if I like this fit or land though.

I don't know.

But North Carolina.

To go from coaching Nicolio,

which won the greatest players of all time,

winning a championship, winning a Nuggets coach of all time.

And now you have a dual chance to follow big time coaching legacies,

Dean Smith and Roy Williams.

Now you get to go to a prestigious program.

I just think it's like, Michael Malone,

a legendary career in front of him right now,

if everything goes smoothly.

I'm with you.

I think it's going to be an awesome fit.

And look, like we always wondered what type of job

Michael Malone was going to jump back into the NBA

or jump back into coaching for,

it was always going to have to be the right job.

You know, it was always going to have to be the right NBA job

or the right job elsewhere.

And this just feels like the right job, man.

I mean, it's not just that he's going to coach at any other college,

you know, like any run of the mill school.

It would have had to take a big time school

and like a big time offer to get him there.

And North Carolina, I mean,

one of the most prestigious college jobs in the country

at one of the most prestigious basketball schools of all time.

So for a lot of reasons, I think it's going to be an awesome fit.

I think he's going to crush it.

He's going to get to recruit whoever he wants,

his daughter's there playing volleyball.

Him and Belichet just throwing back whiskey

and the cigars on the porch in North Carolina.

I don't know if that part's going to happen.

We'll see.

Well, I want it to happen.

But I think it's a great fit.

I think, I mean, obviously the connection with his daughter is there.

I was thinking about how the college gig has changed in the NIL era

and how hard it, how much harder it's become to coach these guys, right?

They could just up and leave if they don't like your coaching style.

And that's a really tough adjustment for a lot of these kind of collegiate lifers.

Is that not something Malone's kind of used to coaching in the NBA?

No, we're just these, I'm going to close my window in a second.

That's loud.

Where these guys are in here.

Just tons and tons of money, right?

So it's not like you could coach them like you could four year college players back in the day.

Like you kind of have to a swage and cater to superstar egos.

So I actually think in this particular time coming from the NBA to college

might be an advantage in that he has a bit more experience

in how to tiptoe around guys who are stars in their own mind

or are already worth millions.

And they can simply choose to not listen to you.

Yeah.

I think about that is the thing about that is he's going to be able to pick and choose who he wants.

The North Carolina has a huge recruiting budget, huge NIL obviously.

He's going to be able to recruit the guys that he knows he'll be able to coach like that.

Well, here's one of my first thoughts, man.

For years we had the like just take a Villanova guard.

They always come out polish.

They're always good.

He is going to have a pipeline of Monte Morris and Colin Gillespie is coming to him in my opinion.

Like there's for sure he is going to have the Colin Gillespie type on lock,

which is not the hardest player to recruit.

You know, like those guys are available.

You really, and then will he be able to find the blue chip prospects in North Carolina?

He's Michael Malone.

He has, you know, you talk about you want to go to the NBA?

Well, how about a guy that's coached a championship level of the NBA?

You're going to have that.

I think he has the personality to be like, it's funny that different coaches at different levels,

different things are needed.

I think in college, you need leadership.

You need a culture setter and leadership.

He's going to provide that.

And then you kind of need a like a character.

You need somebody that becomes like coach K was.

We are coach K coach K is this Duke is this.

My coaches are coaches are still the stars in college.

They still are even with the NIL.

And it all comes from like what type of personality are you?

What type of character do you have?

And I think Michael Malone just fits that perfectly.

I think they're going to be disciplined kind of hard nose.

He's going to have some very good point guard play would be my hunch.

And you talk about rivalries.

I cannot wait for the lead up to the first Duke North Carolina game.

And whatever it is, Michael Malone is going to say in the lead up to that.

That man is a chameleon.

He's three years away from having a North Carolina tattoo on his arm.

And he's going to walk into that building knowing exactly what to say to say.

Nope.

We're Carolina.

This is who we are.

Bring on Duke.

And it's already in the family literally.

So he's going to wear this thing like a like a jacket, you know.

Some senses literally.

It's going to be a really, really good fit.

I'm excited.

I mean, or at least on paper.

I mean, that's always an easy thing to say.

But I was talking to some people about this once we heard the rumor and they were telling me they could see it.

And I just.

I feel like he's got all the ingredients.

I think he knows how to talk to a locker room.

I think he has the charisma to recruit.

But also you have to be really strong on the mic, I think.

Oh, total.

You have to.

Usually you're the face of a multi million dollar program there, like very, very, very, very big deal.

And I just think you have to be savvy and then also be able to like.

Kind of have some of those moments that he's had in Denver where you see his personality come through.

I'm trying hard not to say, or you get that.

You know, that clip of Dan Hurley, like headbutting the, the, the referee, you know, after that final four.

Like, I'm sure you and C saw that and was like, all right, let's get him alone.

Like we got to get that.

I could see Malone doing that for sure.

What was interesting is he wasn't their first choice or close to it.

It seemed like they wanted the Arizona coach.

Couldn't land him.

He got a pay raise at Arizona.

They kicked around some other guys as well.

It seemed like Billy Donovan might have been on their wish list.

But from what we had heard, Michael Malone really wanted this job.

And I think he really wanted this job.

Like I think he went all out for it because the fit is just right there.

His daughter's there.

He's familiar with the program.

And I just think he looks at it as I can recruit the entire country for my guys.

Yeah.

I can actually get my guys now.

Coach him how I want to coach him.

Run my program how I want to run it.

He's the boss, man.

I mean, yeah, he's got donors and boosters.

He's got an answer to.

But he's running the whole ship now.

And I just think he looked at that as something that was really enticing.

And I think relative to the competition, you're now working with a way more heavily invested ownership group,

if you will, or brass above you than the cronkeys were in the NBA environment.

That being said, it is a high pressure job.

You know, you don't get a runway here.

They expect to be great immediately.

And he's going to have to hit the ground running.

So it will be kind of interesting to follow.

But the other thing is another part about Moch is if he went to say the Orlando magic,

I do think there's a chance we just don't hear from him very often.

Unless they become great.

It's like, all right, he's just in the league and you kind of forget about it, whatever.

I think in North Carolina, he's going to be in our lives again.

Like it's a big enough job that we'll see him around, which I think is just great.

And now he's going to ESPN connections too.

So like it's just going to be like he is going to be in the media all the time.

Will Nikolay Yokech visit the camp?

Like they're in town to play Charlotte.

Charlotte and Raleigh are too far away.

I don't think it's going to happen there.

But you know, will there be a scenario where Malone calls it a favor?

And it's like, hey, can you contact the guys?

Yeah.

I mean, unless Yokech is watching these ESPN MVP conversations or maybe not.

I don't know how much he, but you made the Hurley Moch comparison.

Yes.

And I can tell you guys from hanging out in the locker room.

You know who loves Dan Hurley?

Oh, Nikolay Yokech.

Big fellow loves Dan Hurley.

Why?

Because he's insane.

So maybe in hindsight, like he definitely loved Malone, you know?

I think my single favorite Yokech take that I have that I actually believe is that he really does judge people.

But especially teammates by how well he thinks they do in a street fight.

Yeah.

And so I'm not surprised that he sees Dan Hurley.

He's like, oh, that guy.

I mean, Jim Michael Green was a top five TV team at all time out of nowhere.

They're like, why?

What does he do?

It's like, I'll bet you that guy could kick some ass in a bar.

Yeah.

That's right.

He probably can.

Yeah.

So I think there's something there.

It should be pretty compelling.

Do you think, you know, like what are we predicting?

How do you think it's going to go early on?

Do you think they'll be bumps in the road?

Do you think he'll be the main story of college hoops next year?

I think he could be for sure.

I mean, again, this is North Carolina.

It's not like he's going to coach at Colorado or he's not going to coach at, you know, Boston college or, you know, something.

This is North Carolina.

They can be the biggest story in college hoops if they're really, really good.

And just with how you can overhaul a roster in a year in college, they were decent last year.

I think they have like their best player going to the pros.

But with how you can just overhaul us a roster, like overnight.

I think there's a chance they're really good.

And he's going to like have a great culture there.

He's going to coach them hard.

And again, I keep going back to this point.

He's only going to recruit players.

He knows he can coach hard.

Well, about that win.

Because I do have a theory about his recruiting.

I do think he's going to find a Monte Morse conglespie type.

Because I think he just likes that type of point.

Our true point guard.

And they'll probably be a four year player that ends up being really good and surprisingly good in the league or whatever.

I think he has that unlock.

My fear is that he is going to over index just from talking to Malone.

He really loves New York hoops.

And he comes from it.

And I would not be surprised if he is like struggles in the Midwest.

Struggles maybe even in the South.

And it's like, yeah, you know where all of his prospects came from.

Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston.

It's like he just doesn't leave his corner.

Hey, it could work though.

Well, there's also going to be pressure and money to go sign certain blue chip got like.

It's people are going to chip in to the actual pool to go buy players.

So they will also other people will have say, I think, right?

Who gets recruited and who's expected to be there.

But the column, the recipe types is really interesting because it's.

There are far fewer barriers to just playing guys like that in college.

You don't have to worry about the size as much.

If you trust a guy to run the game the way Malone is does in these point guards that are.

Pike dream proxies of himself as a player.

Like you can get a lot out of those guys and D1 as Adam was saying.

So you can see that.

I think even with the NIL stuff, you still have a better chance of coaching defense hard and actually getting guys to do it.

I think as much as we love the you guys are up by playing like you're up by 30.

Speech.

I don't know how much NBA players really responded that call.

Yeah.

All players might.

You he's a guy you would run through a wall through.

I would think so or for I should say.

So this could really work out.

Well, didn't didn't hardly have that one win where he called a time out with like 30 seconds left up 40.

Because he was furious about something the team did and just like pulled it all out, put five more players in.

It's like Malone's going to love this.

Also the college atmosphere.

It's all about yelling at your players.

Like that's what people love about the college game.

And people, people frown at NBA coaches really getting into their players these days.

People love it when college coaches rip their players.

Yeah.

They love it.

It's actually like the highlight.

They do.

It's true.

It is true.

You don't.

Sorry.

The only point I wanted to add when we were talking about how this is going to go is.

It could start great and you can still end up getting fired within a handful of years as it did for Hubert Davis who in his debut season went to the national title game that was 2022.

He's out already.

You know what I mean?

So with with this new kind of the boosters have more say than ever.

Kind of era.

Also, there's less patience, I would think.

So it's it may not be this like really long kind of runway to get this thing off the ground.

You know,

Well, new angle for you.

Because part of me wonders if he, you know, we think the point guard thing is him and you know, he loves these point guards.

But do you think he tries to find a yokich.

You know,

Cop clone.

And I asked this because the story in college basketball this year was,

Misco,

Yokech's agent saying, you know what?

Rather than playing in the lower level European teams and then getting, you know, growing through there.

Why don't we just get NIL money?

You think there's a Misco Malone pipeline that could be a natural fit of like, hey, send me your guys.

I already love the Serbs.

Let's get this.

Let's make this.

You know, North Carolina Serbian pipeline.

Absolutely, man.

I mean, Illinois got to the final four with that.

Should have, should have, should have gone to the final man.

Yeah.

Yeah, they really should have.

I mean, they had the number one offense.

I think in college basketball with that.

So yeah, I think there's absolutely something there.

And then the other thing I was thinking about with recruiting, man.

I know a lot of it comes down to NIL these days.

But for a lot of these top prospects, you know, I'm sure the packages they're getting offered at these top schools is pretty similar.

So it does still come down to recruiting in the end for some of these guys.

Think about Mico Malone in a room recruiting a guy, man.

I can't picture him losing.

And if it comes down to that, I can't picture him losing.

He's not losing that to anybody.

I mean, think about how good this guy is at delivering a message.

And just like he's the best.

So like he's, he can deliver any type of message.

Like he's the one of the best talkers in his position out there.

And then, yeah, I won an NBA championship.

Right.

I helped develop Nicole Yokech into one of the greatest players of all time.

If you're a big man, like, come on, man.

How do you say no to that at North Carolina?

Yeah, and I don't, you know, obviously we can't know for sure the answer to this.

But as Adam was talking about the pipeline, I would think he can probably still get a blessing from Yokech, right?

Like if other Serbian players were to call Yokech and say, what do you think about playing from Malone?

That's the part.

And he, and he says probably the same thing he says about Hurley.

He's insane.

I love it.

And, you know, and maybe can he pick off some of the guys that are already playing there in the transfer window?

But he does, you need to have a certain charismatic gravitas to do a job like this at a program like that.

And I think Malone has it.

I know he has it.

You also have to be a grinder still with, especially with the transfer portal stuff.

Yeah.

And I think like the transfer portal opens tonight or something for college hoops.

Oh, he's going to be on the phone all night.

Exactly.

He's pulling all night or tonight.

But, and if you're a North Carolina fan, you got to be really excited because a lot of people will probably compare this to Bellachick.

I don't know how hard Bill Bellachick is working at his job at this stage of his life.

I think we might.

Michael Malone will work his ass off every single day.

The legacy of coaches that went to big time programs though.

It's in the weird ways as great or greater than NBA coaches who had a run.

You know, like is.

Is Roy Williams as popular as Doc Rivers, for example.

You know, it's a big name.

It's John Calipari.

You know, so I think Michael Malone having the benefit of son of a coach grew up through the system.

Got to coach LeBron, you know, was with the Warriors of staff.

And then he comes to Denver and he has yokich.

It's like, all right, he already is the force gump of the NBA.

And now you go to college and you have a chance to like follow in that footsteps.

It's like he really can be one of the premier basketball people of this of this era.

Larry Brown, right?

Is the only one to do it?

Is the only one to win in both levels?

Oh, really.

I didn't know that.

So that would be an interesting one too.

Well, I have one last angle on this and it's kind of a funny one.

Sort of his nemesis in some ways.

In coaching is one George Carl, who took his job in Sacramento.

And then of course, Michael Malone comes here and passes him as the first,

the second winning is now winning his coach of all time.

I do find it hilarious that more than any more than a sonic,

more than a nugget, George Carl is a tar hill.

And Michael Malone now finds himself once again in George Carl's territory.

I just find that as a funny little, little detail here.

That's a little Easter egg for everybody.

Kind of poetic about that in a sense.

Yeah, we'll see if George Carl reaches out.

You guys have any, any final thoughts on this?

It's just kind of a fun thing.

But I'm excited.

I'll tell you this.

I'll be following.

I actually will be following North Carolina next year.

And I'm not even a Carolina fan.

The truth be told, I'm an NC State fan.

Just because my best, I don't have a college.

My best friends is he stays like, you know what?

20 years ago, I committed to a.

I'm excited.

I'll definitely be following.

And the first press conference he does is appointment television.

Oh, my God.

I'm stoked because now Nick producer Nick will have something to say to me like

other than Hornets talk.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, that'll be exciting for about three days.

Yeah.

I think what he's going to say is national chance.

You haven't heard national chance.

Yeah.

Several times.

Looking forward to it, Nick.

All right, everybody.

Nice little emergency pod for you.

We should tell you this is, of course, as always, presented by Xfinity.

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Um, I, one last point I had on this.

We said we'll yoke it's visit North Carolina.

I do think he'll call.

I think he might be more like the Anthony Black draft video, which we still don't quite fully understand.

I think it'll be that what it'll be the closing sale.

Like, hey, Nicole, I want you to meet my new recruit.

He wants to come.

What do you think?

I think you should go.

Can we get public or to look into that?

Someone figured that one out.

Was that it?

I'm still convinced it was just a voice memo recording.

The AI.

Somebody put it into one of those AI apps and Anthony Black's living a lie this entire time.

Super chat from a NugDug.

Any chance Carrie Booth coming to North Carolina.

That's Calvin Booth.

Sonny's playing that car in a state.

I don't think so.

By the way, can we get a Penn State versus Carolina?

Isn't Calvin Booth now?

Penn State?

Can we get it?

That would be an incredible matchup.

That would be wild.

That would be absolutely wild to see.

Is that the only super chat we have?

All right.

We can wrap up now.

That was, of course, our emergency pod presented by Xfinity.

Imagine that.

We are back here in just, I don't know, what?

Five hours?

Four hours?

We have a show coming up for you guys.

Because the Nuggets have a chance to extend the streak tonight,

which would tie a franchise or Yokech era record.

We'll see if we can do it.

Thanks, everybody.

Hit the like button on the way out.

Thank you.