Before North Carolina hired Michael Malone to replace Hubert Davis as head coach, Jerry Stackhouse said he expressed interest in the position. However, he told Jim Rome the school turned down an interview.
Stackhouse just completed his second season on the Golden State Warriors staff as an assistant following his departure from Vanderbilt. He had a 70-92 overall record with the Commodores and won SEC Coach of the Year in 2023 as they made a second straight NIT quarterfinals appearance. The program did not make the NCAA Tournament under Stackhouse’s watch.
But after UNC moved on from Davis, Stackhouse said he hoped to speak with his alma mater about the position before going outside the family by hiring Malone. He expressed his disappointment that he didn’t get an interview and pointed out his resume at Vanderbilt, including former players now in the NBA.
“With what was going on there with Hubert, I think nobody really liked how that went down for him,” Stackhouse said on The Jim Rome Podcast. “Being part of the family and then to not have an opportunity to talk about it, I think that was the most disappointing thing for me. They were like, ‘We’re not going to interview you.’ I feel like I have a resume that can stand up to anybody. I’ve won Coach of the Year in the SEC, I had a team that finished fourth in the SEC when we weren’t even participating in NIL. I mean, I whooped all their ass.
“So I feel like, just from an Xs and Os standpoint and being able to develop guys – guys that didn’t get all the four-star, five-star guys, but we developed them and they became all-league players. Scotty Pippen’s a pro, Aaron Nesmith is a pro. These are guys that I helped to develop while they were there. Saben Lee. So I think those are the things that was disappointing, that I didn’t get a chance to at least state my case for why we shouldn’t have to go out of the family.”
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In Michael Malone, North Carolina now has a head coach without any college head coaching experience. Of course, he has an NBA title with the Denver Nuggets and last worked as a college coach at Manhattan as an assistant in 2001.
During Malone’s time in the NBA, Jerry Stackhouse said he studied his teams, particularly on offense. While he thinks the new North Carolina coach will succeed, Stackhouse said he hoped to at least discuss the job with his alma mater.
“I think Mike Malone’s a good coach,” Stackhouse said. “He’s one of the guys that I respect in the pros. He’s one of the guys, I used to watch how his team played and how they defended – more offensively, honestly, from that standpoint.
“But I do think he’s going to do well. He has a system, he has schemes, he understands how to play. But absolutely was disappointing that I didn’t get a chance to at least talk about that job, especially with what I’ve done for that program and think what I’ve done in the coaching realm, to at least sit and talk about it.”
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