UNC basketball makes unexpected splash by hiring former Nuggets coach
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – May 22: Michael Malone speaks before the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on May 22, 2025 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Malone’s key tie to UNC is through his daughter, who is a volleyball player in Chapel Hill, making this a reunion of sorts. However, the hiring has much more to do with adding some gravitas to a men’s basketball program that was limping along under Davis in both recruiting and performance, with UNC boosters and insiders growing increasingly frustrated with the program falling further and further behind Duke.
This move gives the Tar Heels some serious chops at head coach. Malone was unfairly fired by the Sacramento Kings to start his NBA tenure, before the Denver Nuggets saw potential in him as a tactician and team builder. Aided in large part by the emergence of Nikola Jokic, Malone helped lead the Nuggets to an NBA Championship in 2022-23.
The all-time winningest coach in Nuggets history, Malone was fired by the team in April of 2025 along with GM Calvin Booth, under the belief from ownership that a new coach and front office could lead to more playoff success than the feuding Booth and Malone.
A truly fascinating hire, Malone hasn’t had experience coaching college basketball since 2001 as an assistant for Manhattan. The bulk of his time has been spent in the NBA, which will lead to some fascinating recruiting challenges for the Tar Heels moving forward. Tactically and organizationally, this feels like a home run hire in a cycle where many top coaches committed to staying with their programs, even while the pitfall of Malone not having college experience is clear.
This is a new era for Tar Heel basketball, and it’s going to be fascinating to see it unfold.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – May 22: Michael Malone speaks before the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on May 22, 2025 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Even with the long list of possible names rumored for the vacant UNC men’s basketball job, the program still managed to make a hire nobody expected. It is now being reported that Mike Malone, former coach of the Denver Nuggets, will become the 20th coach in the history of the program, succeeding Hubert Davis, who was fired by the Tar Heels during the NCAA tournament after their upset loss to VCU.
Malone’s key tie to UNC is through his daughter, who is a volleyball player in Chapel Hill, making this a reunion of sorts. However, the hiring has much more to do with adding some gravitas to a men’s basketball program that was limping along under Davis in both recruiting and performance, with UNC boosters and insiders growing increasingly frustrated with the program falling further and further behind Duke.
This move gives the Tar Heels some serious chops at head coach. Malone was unfairly fired by the Sacramento Kings to start his NBA tenure, before the Denver Nuggets saw potential in him as a tactician and team builder. Aided in large part by the emergence of Nikola Jokic, Malone helped lead the Nuggets to an NBA Championship in 2022-23.
The all-time winningest coach in Nuggets history, Malone was fired by the team in April of 2025 along with GM Calvin Booth, under the belief from ownership that a new coach and front office could lead to more playoff success than the feuding Booth and Malone.
A truly fascinating hire, Malone hasn’t had experience coaching college basketball since 2001 as an assistant for Manhattan. The bulk of his time has been spent in the NBA, which will lead to some fascinating recruiting challenges for the Tar Heels moving forward. Tactically and organizationally, this feels like a home run hire in a cycle where many top coaches committed to staying with their programs, even while the pitfall of Malone not having college experience is clear.
This is a new era for Tar Heel basketball, and it’s going to be fascinating to see it unfold.
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#Deadspin #Larry #Fitzgerald #Arizona #gave #home">Deadspin | Larry Fitzgerald thanks all of Arizona: ‘You gave me a home’
Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Larry Fitzgerald and his son Devin Fitzgerald unveil his bust during the Class of 2026 enshrinement ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 8, 2026.
One day after being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, longtime Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald paid for a full-page ad in the Arizona Republic to thank everyone who made a Minnesota native feel welcome in the state he calls home.
After being selected by the Cardinals with the third overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, Fitzgerald spent all 17 years of his NFL career in Arizona. He caught 1,432 passes for 17,492 yards and 121 touchdowns while earning 11 trips to the Pro Bowl.
Fitzgerald ranks second to Jerry Rice on the NFL’s all-time lists for receptions and receiving yards. He stands sixth in touchdown catches, trailing Rice, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Chris Carter and Marvin Harrison.
Here’s the message Fitzgerald penned for his Arizona Republic ad:
People have asked me countless times what it felt like to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The truth is, it was one of the greatest honors of my life.
But this really isn’t a Hall of Fame story.
It’s a thank-you letter.
I arrived in Arizona as a 20-year-old kid who didn’t know a single person. I had no idea this desert would become the place that would shape me into the man I am today.
The day I landed was the same day the nation learned Pat Tillman had lost his life. Pat is one of America’s great heroes.
I stepped off the plane into a state where its people were carrying real grief, and something inside me grew quiet. I started paying attention.
You learn quickly what loyalty looks like when it isn’t just a word.
For the next 17 seasons, I quietly measured myself against the standard Pat Tillman set. I’m still not sure I ever lived up to it.
Somewhere along the way, Arizona stopped being the place where I lived and became the place I was from.
It happened through a thousand ordinary moments until one day, I realized this was simply home. Not because I was a Hall of Famer. Not because I was a wide receiver. Just because the people of this state allowed me to be Larry.
You don’t fall in love with a place because of its stadiums. You fall in love on quiet mornings hiking Camelback Mountain.
On crisp fall afternoons walking a golf course. During summers in Flagstaff and standing among the red rocks of Sedona that remind you just how small you are in the best possible way.
When I stopped playing football, I walked away quietly. I’m known for my Irish goodbyes. Arizona even gave me that. Yet you kept showing up for me anyway, especially through the work of my foundation. Your support was never conditional. You never asked me to be anything other than myself, and somehow that was always enough.
Arizona gave a kid from Minneapolis something he didn’t even know he was searching for.
Belonging.
And that sense of belonging changed me.
After a while, you weren’t cheering for a wide receiver anymore, you were cheering for one of your own.
So this isn’t really a story about 17 years in a Cardinals uniform or a bronze bust in Canton.
It’s the story of a young man who was welcomed by a state that owed him nothing and gave him everything.
Thank you, Arizona.
Thank you for letting a kid from somewhere else become one of your own.
Thank you for embracing not just the player, but the man.
You gave me far more than a career. You gave me friendships that will last a lifetime. You gave me purpose beyond football.
You gave me a place where my children will always know they belong.
#Larry #Fitzgeralds #Hall #Fame #induction #years #making">Larry Fitzgerald’s Hall of Fame induction is 25 years in the making
When I arrived to cover the Minnesota Vikings for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2000, it was clear I was dealing with a star-studded roster.
The team boasted future Pro Football Hall of Famers; wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss and defensive tackle John Randle. Plus, there were a ton of other stars including quarterback Daunte Culpepper, center Matt Birk and running back Robert Smith. The Vikings were loaded with star power.
The talent around the team wasn’t relegated simply to the roster, however.
That summer I first laid my eyes on a 16-year-old high school junior named Larry Fitzgerald Jr. The son of a local media member and close friend of Vikings’ head coach Dennis Green, Little Fitzy was a ball boy during training camp and on game days. It turns out, Larry Fitzgerald Jr. is very likely the most famous former NFL ball boy in history.
On reporting date, fellow reporter Kevin Seifert pointed out Fitzgerald to me and said “that’s a bad man.” Seifert didn’t say that about any of the actual Vikings that day.
Fitzgerald was already known as the best Minnesota high school prospect in years and he was considered one of the best high school players in the country. Seifert told me the buzz was that the kid was, no doubt, headed to the NFL in a half decade or so. Seifert was on the money. I’m not sure the Hall of Fame was mentioned or not.
But this weekend of course, that’s exactly where Little Fitzy is headed. He will be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Fitzgerald will be remembered as one of the best and most productive wide receivers in league history after an incredible 17-season career with the Arizona Cardinals.
I have a ton of memories of being around Fitzgerald, but there’s one that stands out among them all.
One day after training camp, a nameless Vikings’ wide receiver camp body was getting extra work on a JUGS machine, catching balls. He was being tutored by Fitzgerald, who was showing this player how to properly approach the incoming ball. This was a child instructing a grown man an NFL team deemed good enough to attend training camp.
Larry Fitzgerald Jr. was special even back then.
In addition to his incredible natural football ability, Larry Fitzgerald Jr. stood out for his politeness and good nature. You could tell he was a good kid from the first time you met him.
There was no I’m-going-to-be-a-star attitude. He was genuine and he worked his tail off with the rest of the ball boys. There was no entitlement. It was as if he was using his time around an NFL camp as an internship for his future. He passed with flying colors.
I’ve always cherished following his career from his days at Pittsburgh in college to his days of dominating the NFL and I’ve enjoyed running into him over the years now and again.
#TNPL #Live #Allround #batting #display #propels #Nellai #Royal #Kings">TNPL 2026 Live: All-round batting display propels Nellai Royal Kings to 206/8
Follow Sportstar for extensive coverage of the tenth edition of the TNPL, from live scores and match reports to exclusive analysis and features.
TOSS
Tiruppur Tamizhans won the toss and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XIs
Nellai Royal Kings: Athish SR(w), D Santhosh Kumar, Ajitesh Guruswamy, U Mukilesh, Rithik Easwaran, Sonu Yadav(c), Muhammed Adnan Khan, Ramalingam Rohit, Emmanuel Cherian, NS Harish, Rocky Bhasker
Tiruppur Tamizhans: Tushar Raheja(w), Amit Sathvik, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Mohamed Ali, Uthirasamy Sasidev, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore(c), M Mathivannan, S Mohan Prasath, R Silambarasan, Esakkimuthu A, T Natarajan
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