UNC Just Offered Its Job to Either a Bulls Coach With a 224-253 Record or an NBA Champion Who's Never Coached College
North Carolina's coaching search is a mess, and the reports coming out are completely contradictory. On Sunday, Field of 68 said the Tar Heels were locked in "solely" on Billy Donovan. By Monday, ESPN dropped a bomb saying UNC actually wants Michael Malone. One of these stories has to be wrong, and we still don't know which one.
The Donovan Option: Pedigree, But Recent Struggles
Billy Donovan is a legendary college coach. He won back-to-back national championships at Florida in 2006-07 and compiled a 467-186 record with the Gators from 1996-2015. The guy knows how to win at the highest level.
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👉 Claim Your Free $10 at KalshiBut here's the catch: his NBA resume is rough. Donovan has been coaching in the pros since 2015, and the numbers aren't pretty. He went 243-157 with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2015-20, then moved to the Chicago Bulls. With the Bulls this season? He's 29-48. Overall in Chicago, he's 224-253. That's not the profile you want when you're rebuilding a power program.
The Malone Wildcard: NBA Champ With Zero College Experience
Then there's Michael Malone. He's an NBA champion, winning it all with the Denver Nuggets in 2025 before getting fired on April 8, 2025. His head coaching record is solid: 510-394 across Denver and a brief stint with Sacramento. He's been working as an analyst for ABC and ESPN this season.
The wild part? Malone has never been a collegiate head coach. He's got assistant experience at Manhattan, Providence, and Oakland way back in the 1990s and early 2000s, plus time with the Warriors, Hornets, Cavaliers, and Knicks in the NBA. But a college head coaching job? This would be completely new territory.
What Comes Next
North Carolina fired Hubert Davis after a first-round tournament loss to VCU last month. Other candidates like Michigan's Dusty May and Arizona's Tommy Lloyd have already decided to stay put. So it's down to these two options, and the reporting is a complete toss-up. Welcome to the coaching carousel.
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