Michael Malone to North Carolina: How other former NBA coaches fared in college

AlabamaArizonaArkansasDukeFloridaGonzagaHoustonIllinoisIowa StateKansasLouisvilleMiami (FL)Michigan StateMichiganNebraskaNorth CarolinaPurdueSaint Mary'sSt. John'sTennesseeTexas TechUConnVanderbiltVirginiaWisconsinStandingsBeat Our Expert's BracketTournament ProjectionsMen's March Former NBA champion head coach Michael Malone is expected to be the next men's basketball coach at North Carolina. Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images Share full articleMichael Malone is on his way to Chapel Hill to become the next head men’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina. While Malone has some college experience early in his coaching career with stints as an assistant at Oakland, Providence, and Manhattan, he has spent most of his career in the NBA. Malone was either an assistant or head coach for an NBA team from 2001 to 2025, leading the 2022-23 Denver Nuggets to an NBA championship. Now he’s going back to school. While many coaches, like Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who was rumored to be a candidate for the North Carolina job, have made the jump from college to the NBA, there have also been several notable coaches who have leaped in the opposite direction. The results have been mixed. Here is how some of the most notable names fared. Philadelphia 76ers (assistant) 2016-2020, Phoenix Suns (assistant) 2020-2021, Phoenix Suns (associate head coach) 2021-2024 Young spent several years as an assistant and head coach in the D-League (now known as the G-League), including stints with the Utah Flash, Iowa Energy, and Delaware 87ers from 2007-2016. Young joined Philadelphia’s developmental team, the 87ers, as an assistant in 2013 before being promoted to head coach in 2014. He was eventually named an assistant coach for the 76ers in 2016 under Brett Brown. Young interviewed for the head coaching position after Brown was fired in 2020, but the franchise ultimately chose Doc Rivers, which led to Young jumping to the Suns as an assistant, then associate head coach, under Monty Williams from 2020-2024. Phoenix made the NBA Finals in Young’s first season on staff — its first time since 1993 — losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Young landed the head coach position at BYU in 2024 after Mark Pope left for Kentucky. In two seasons, the Cougars are 49-22 overall and 23-15 in Big 12 play, with two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 run in 2025 as a sixth seed. Golden State Warriors (assistant) 2016-2021, Sacramento Kings (assistant) 2022-2025 Loucks’ NBA education came under Steve Kerr in the thick of the Golden State Warriors dynasty. After a four-year playing career overseas and in the D-League, the Florida State alum was hired by the Warriors as a paid intern working on film and player development during the 2016-17 season, the first of the Kevin Durant championships for Golden State and the second of what became three titles in six years. Loucks had brief forays around basketball starting in 2020, with stints as a player development coach for the Nigerian National Team and then on the Olympic staff in the summer of 2021. He also worked in basketball strategy and personnel evaluation in the 2021-22 season for the Phoenix Suns before being hired by the Sacramento Kings as an assistant in August 2022. Ahead of the 2025 season, Loucks returned to his alma mater as its head coach. He took over for Leonard Hamilton, who had coached the program since 2002. In Loucks’ first year at the helm, the Seminoles went 18-15 and 10-8 in ACC play, finishing seventh in the conference and missing the tournament. Iowa State 2010-2015, Chicago Bulls 2015-2018 Hoiberg spent a decade as an NBA player with the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and Minnesota Timberwolves before taking a job in Minnesota’s front office. He returned to the sidelines in 2010, taking the reins at Iowa State, his alma mater, where his No. 32 is retired and he was twice named to All-Big Eight teams in 1994 (second) and 1995 (first). Hoiberg inherited a Cyclones program that had won more than 20 games just four times in the 15 years since he had left as a player. In his second season in charge, Iowa State went 23-11 and made the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Hoiberg coached the Cyclones to a 115-56 record in his five seasons, making the tournament four times and winning the Big 12 tournament twice. He was named Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2012. In 2015, Hoiberg was hired by the Chicago Bulls on a five-year contract. It was not a successful run. In 2015-16, Chicago missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and by the time he was fired in December 2018, after a 5-19 start to his fourth season, he had compiled a 115-155 record with one playoff appearance, a first-round exit in 2016-17. In 2019, Hoiberg, a Lincoln, Neb., native, was hired to coach Nebraska. The Cornhuskers were 14-45 combined through his first two seasons, but have been on the mend as of late. In 2025-26, Hoiberg’s Cornhuskers went 28-7 and 15-5 in the Big Ten. As a No. 4 seed in March Madness, Nebraska broke through as the last power conference school to win its first NCAA Tournament game and made a run to the Sweet 16. Hoiberg was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2024 and 2026, and he was named AP Coach of the Year in 2026. North Carolina (assistant) 1965-1967; Carolina Cougars 1972-1974; Denver Nuggets 1974-1979; UCLA 1979-1981; New Jersey Nets 1981-1983; Kansas 1983-1988; San Antonio Spurs 1988-1992; Los Angeles Clippers 1992-1993; Indiana Pacers 1993-1997; Philadelphia 76ers 1997-2003; Detroit Pistons 2003-2005; New York Knicks 2005-2006; Charlotte Bobcats 2008-2010; SMU 2012-2016; Auxilium Torino 2018; Memphis (assistant) 2021; Memphis (advisor to head coach) 2022 The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, 2001 NBA Coach of the Year, and 2004 NBA championship-winning coach, Brown’s basketball career spanned multiple decades across the college, NBA, and ABA ranks. Brown had stints at the helm of two premier programs in college basketball, UCLA from 1979-1981 (37-16 record) and Kansas from 1983-1988 (135-44). Brown took the Jayhawks to two Final Fours and won the national championship in 1988. In between his UCLA and Kansas stints, and then for more than two decades afterward, Brown became one of the most successful coaches in NBA history. His most notable stops included coaching a Philadelphia 76ers team led by Allen Iverson to the NBA Finals in 2001 before falling to a Los Angeles Lakers squad led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He then went to Detroit from 2003-2005, coaching the Detroit Pistons to two consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning one against the Lakers in 2004, Detroit’s first championship since 1990. Brown finished his NBA career with 1,098 wins, good for ninth all time. In 2012, Brown returned to the college ranks to coach SMU. By 2013-14, he had the Mustangs ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1985. In 2014-15, SMU won the AAC and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993, losing in the first round. Brown was later suspended in 2015 and resigned in 2016 after multiple violations related to academic fraud involving a student-athlete. He finished his college coaching career with 266 wins. Milwaukee Bucks (assistant) 1996-1999; Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant) 1999-2001; Philadelphia 76ers (assistant) 2001-2003; Detroit Pistons (assistant) 2003-2004; Atlanta Hawks 2004-2010; New York Knicks (assistant) 2011-2012; New York Knicks 2012-2014; Los Angeles Clippers (assistant) 2014-2018; New York Knicks (assistant) 2020-2021; Indiana 2021-2025 Woodson had a long NBA coaching career before eventually taking his shot in the college ranks. From 1996-2004, he was an assistant with multiple franchises before getting his first head coaching job with the Atlanta Hawks in 2004. In his third season, 2007-08, he led the Hawks to the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1999, where they lost in the first round. The Hawks went on to make three straight playoff appearances under Woodson, never advancing past the second round. In his final season, 2009-10, Atlanta went 53-29, the franchise’s first 50-win season since 1998. Woodson then had a two-and-a-half-season stint coaching a New York Knicks team led by Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks made the playoffs twice but did not reach the conference finals. In 2012-13, Woodson led New York to 54 wins, its first 50-win season since 2000. He was fired after the 2013-14 season, when the Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. In 2021, Woodson was hired by his alma mater, Indiana. He took the Hoosiers back to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 for the first time since 2016. Indiana lost in the First Four that season and then in the Round of 32 the following season. In his four years in Bloomington, he finished with an 82-53 record, 41-39 in Big Ten play, with two tournament appearances before stepping down in 2025. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Devon Henderson is a staff writer for The Athletic. He has covered the Summer Olympics, College Football Playoffs, and the Men's Final Four while at Arizona State University and was an intern at the Southern California News Group, where he covered the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Sparks, and LAFC. Follow Devon on Twitter @HendersonDevon_