{"id":79666,"date":"2026-04-08T20:55:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79666"},"modified":"2026-04-08T20:55:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:55:53","slug":"new-unc-coach-michael-malone-had-duke-on-his-mind-in-introductory-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79666","title":{"rendered":"New UNC coach Michael Malone had Duke on his mind in introductory press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"my-2.5 text-black font-group-gigantic !leading-[30px] md:!leading-[44px]\">New UNC coach Michael Malone had Duke on his mind in introductory press conference<\/h1>\n<div class=\"article-intro mb-4 text-darkGrey font-group-large md:font-group-normal lg:font-group-large !mb-2.5 md:mb-5\">In his introductory press conference as the new North Carolina head coach, Michael Malone already had his mind on Duke.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>UNC finally got their man! He wasn&#8217;t their first choice, or maybe even second or third, but they finally have a head coach again after firing Hubert Davis, and it definitely most assuredly was NOT\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79638\">a panic hire\u00a0<\/a>made right before the opening of the Transfer Portal. No sir. Not a chance.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">Michael Malone, who hasn&#8217;t coached in college basketball in any capacity in 25 years and was fired twice as an NBA head coach, is the new savior in Chapel Hill, tasked with revitalizing a Blue Blood program that had gone dormant under Davis.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">North Carolina fans would have you believe that this hire is about competing for national championships again, but it was obvious from Malone&#8217;s introductory press conference that the Tar Heels only have one primary goal in mind: beating Duke.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">\u201cI love rivalries\u2026 I\u2019m excited to be a part of that rivalry,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79638\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Malone said.<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 I know that Duke is a program down the road and they\u2019ve had success. But I didn\u2019t come here to be second best, I didn\u2019t come here to lose in the first round of the ACC Tournament. I came here to win and win at a big level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">New UNC coach doesn&#8217;t want to play second-fiddle to Duke<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">Unfortunately, Malone is going to have to get comfortable being in 2nd place out of two in this rivalry.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">Because Duke isn&#8217;t going anywhere. Scheyer has the Blue Devils positioned to be contenders for years to come. The March Madness meltdowns have been frustrating, but Duke has gone 70-7 over the past two years, advancing further in the NCAA Tournament than North Carolina four straight years. That 70-7 record includes a 5-1 mark against the Tar Heels, with the one loss coming on a total fluke ending in Chapel Hill this season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\">Malone is a quality basketball coach. Of that, there is no doubt. But he&#8217;s in for a culture shock after being out of the college game for so long, and Scheyer is going to make his head spin on the recruiting trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New UNC coach Michael Malone had Duke on his mind in introductory press conference In his introductory press conference as the new North Carolina head coach, Michael Malone already had &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1742],"class_list":["post-79666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-michael-malone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New UNC coach Michael Malone had Duke on his mind in introductory press conference - 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