North Carolina shocked the college basketball world on Monday when the men’s basketball program hired NBA championship-winning coach Mike Malone to take over the team. Malone was most recently the coach of the Denver Nuggets from 2015–25, winning a title in 2023. He last coached at the collegiate level in 2001 as an assistant at Manhattan.
Duke legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski was live on the Pat McAfee Show when ESPN’s Pete Thamel first broke the news of Malone’s hiring, so college fans witnessed Coach K’s live reaction to learning of his formal rival finding a new coach.
McAfee set Krzyzewski up for a mic drop comment by first saying “Is North Carolina about to come back and start smacking Duke around? Uh-oh, Coach K, NBA champion’s coming to town.”
“Well, they had an NFL champion hired as the coach and Duke beat Carolina in football this year,” Coach K said. What a savage response.
"They had an NFL champion hired as the coach and Duke beat Carolina in football this year." 🤣
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 6, 2026
Coach K reacted to @PeteThamel's report of UNC hiring Mike Malone on the @PatMcAfeeShow 🏀 pic.twitter.com/P5irdauRE3
Of course, Krzyzewski is referencing the Tar Heels hiring six-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belichick ahead of last season. Despite the splashy hire, Belichick’s UNC lost to Duke in the regular season and the Blue Devils went on to win the ACC title. Krzyzewski believes the Tar Heels’ decision to hire two coaches from the professional ranks is no coincidence.
“It doesn’t mean coach Belichick isn’t a great coach. There is time for adjustments. It takes longer, if you ever get adjusted, coming from the pros to college,” Krzyzewski continued. “Mike is a terrific coach and a terrific guy. There’s a learning curve. If that is true, whatever the reasoning is, maybe they’re changing—they have now two pro coaches coaching in college—the infrastructure of their athletic department. Is it now going to become now more of a pro organization? I think everybody should be doing that. The fact that [Malone] knows how to do that, and so does coach Belichick, maybe that’s a sign that they’re moving in that direction organizationally.”
The adjustments Malone will need to make set off some concern for UNC fans, especially since Malone hasn’t coached in the NCAA landscape for 25 years. A lot has changed since Malone was on the staff at Manhattan in 2001—and now he’ll be at a power five conference. Malone’s also taking over a very storied program. UNC has the most Final Four appearances in men’s Division I college basketball history with 21 and six national titles.
Davis didn’t measure up against Roy Williams when he took over the Tar Heels in 2021. Malone will be poised with the task of bringing UNC back to the top of the college basketball rankings after years of up-and-down results. Coach K doesn’t seem to worried about UNC being a major threat to Duke in the near future, but we’ll see about that.
Duke vs. UNC all-time record
Since their first meeting in 1920, the Tar Heels hold a 146–121 head-to-head lead in their storied rivalry against the Blue Devils.
This past season, UNC and Duke faced each other twice, like normal. The Tar Heels won the first meeting 71–68, but then the Blue Devils got revenge and won 76–61 in their regular season finale.
Davis finished his run at North Carolina with a 5–7 record against Duke.
More College Basketball from Sports Illustrated
- Michigan vs. UConn Live Updates, Scores From NCAA Tournament National Championship Game
- North Carolina Doubles Down on Pro Experiment With Michael Malone
- The Family Tie That May Have Influenced Michael Malone to Take North Carolina Job
- Michael Malone: Five Great NBA Coaches You Probably Didn’t Know Worked in College
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Coach K Had a Savage Response to North Carolina Basketball's Stunning Hire of NBA Champion.
