By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Having a role in hiring the coach of a program he holds so dear meant the world to Antawn Jamison because he knew it would have made Dean Smith proud. But it also meant some sleepless nights.
Michael Malone was already on Steve Newmark’s radar when the now-UNC athletics director consulted the Carolina basketball legend because of his ties to the NBA. Jamison immediately spoke up about Malone, who was an assistant coach during his stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jamison talked about the process during a Tuesday media availability at Carroll Hall. He and fellow program icon Tyler Hansbrough talked about co-teaching a sports communication class with Livis Freeman, an associate professor of sports communications. Hansbrough did that last year, and Jamison is doing it this fall.
Jamison was part of UNC’s search committee, and Newmark came to Jamison specifically because of his background with coaching searches as part of the Washington Wizards front office.
Newmark laid out a list of candidates and asked which of them might be ready to make the jump from the NBA to college.
“Let’s be honest, the collegiate level is just like the professional level now,” said Jamison, the Wizards’ senior director of pro personnel. “So, I gave him a couple of names, and Coach Malone was one of those, and Billy Donovan was the other one.”
Subscribe to read Tar Heel Tribune ad-free
Subscribe for a cleaner, smoother reading experience without the flashing banners, slow-loading elements, or those especially annoying pop‑up ads that interrupt the flow of the story. You’ll also get the first version of each story emailed to you. The only ads you’ll see are static, non-intrusive ads for UNC‑related books, and there are none currently on the site.
More on Tar Heels
— Veesaar tears right ACL, expected to miss entire season
— Modest, but respectable: Where Malone’s first team falls in preseason rankings, metrics as practice starts
— UNC’s men get ESPN spotlight on first night of SEC/ACC Challenge; women play on night two
— UNC focuses on top Class of 2027 point guards, with Black, Anderson visiting on successive weeks
Jamison knew Donovan’s run with the Chicago Bulls was nearing its end, but he sensed something more specific in Malone.
“Coach Malone was a little tricky because I knew how great of a coach he was, and I knew he would fit in right with the Carolina family and embrace what the Carolina family is all about, but also bring something different that we haven’t had here at Carolina in a long time,” Jamison said.
Part of that confidence came from Malone’s history with LeBron James in Cleveland, where Jamison watched the two build a relationship rooted in mutual respect.
“I’ve seen him — he went [at] LeBron hard. LeBron respected him,” Jamison said. “That’s one thing that really stood out. He can get the best player and communicate with him. He can also reach the last guy on the bench who might not play, and in between that, everybody would respect him.”
Jamison also pointed to Malone’s ties to the community, including his daughter Bridget, a sophomore on the UNC volleyball team, as evidence that the fit went beyond basketball.
“It’s just everything fit well,” Jamison said.
For Jamison, the stakes of the search went beyond finding the right basketball mind. Throughout the process, he found his thoughts returning to Smith and Bill Guthridge, the two coaches who shaped his years at Carolina, and what it would have meant to them to see him involved in hiring Malone.
“When I went through the process, the only thing I could think about was Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge — how proud they would have been of me, helping out this process,” Jamison said.
“Even though [Malone] wasn’t part of the Carolina family, knowing the relationship I had with Coach [Smith], and knowing that this is the reason why I came to Carolina,” Jamison said. “The influence that they both have had on me, not only as a player but as a person, and to know that I had a part in helping find an unbelievable coach who’s going to do great things here at Carolina.”
That sense of duty traced back to a standard Smith set for every player who came through the program, one Jamison said has stayed with him ever since he left Chapel Hill.
“I love this university, I love this program, and whatever’s asked of me, that’s the one thing Coach Smith always said. ‘Whenever they call, whenever this university needs you to do something, just be available,’ ” Jamison said. “So, when Steve called me, I stopped everything.”
By the time Newmark and the search committee moved toward closing the deal, Jamison said he could hardly sleep, consumed with the idea that Carolina needed a coach capable of getting the program back into the sport’s biggest games.
“It’s a gift and a curse to help be a part of it,” Jamison said of being on the committee. “I didn’t want to mess it up. There were times I couldn’t sleep, and I’m sitting here watching Michigan getting ready to play in the title game. I’m just like, ‘I’m tired of not being in that last game during the NCAA tournament,’ and the whole process was, ‘We have to find a coach who’s going to put us back in that scenario.’ ”
Jamison wanted Malone to be the coach. But as the process dragged on, he also got anxious. Ultimately, when Newmark and basketball director of operations Eric Hoots visited Malone in Denver on Easter Sunday, he had a message for them.
“I said, ‘Don’t you leave without him saying he’s coming to the University of North Carolina,’ ” Jamison said. “Hoots, he was scared a little bit. I’m like, ‘Look, we’ve got to get it done.’ And I’m just fortunate enough that we were able to close the deal.”
Malone, of course, said yes on that Sunday.
Malone’s intensity has already left an impression once he arrived on campus, and Jamison is all too familiar with that.
“This is who he is. This is who he was when I first met him in Cleveland,” Jamison said.
He pointed to reports from the program’s staff about marathon film sessions during Malone’s first week on the job as an early sign of what to expect.
“He’s going to make sure not only the players are prepared, but the coaching staff, everybody. I think that alone would definitely help out this program going forward and give us an advantage,” Jamison said.
Hansbrough, who did not have the same personal history with Malone, said the early returns have matched what he had heard about the coach’s reputation.
“I know he’s got a fire and he’s super-competitive,” Hansbrough said. “I know what he’s about. I know his foundation, and I know we’re going to be a tough team. We’re going to be prepared, we’re going to practice hard, and we’re going to play hard.
“That’s what matters most to me, making sure they’re coming out there competing and leaving everything out there regardless,” said Hansbrough, who personified that approach as a player. “I couldn’t be happier. I’m excited. I love his fire, I love his competitiveness, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Both have already gotten glimpses of the roster Malone will coach this season, and their early read leans toward a physical, defensive identity.
“I like that we are going to be a tough team, defensive-minded,” Jamison said. “It’s going to be fun to watch, and knowing that Coach is going to be directing his players and instilling his core values of what it means to be a Tar Heel and play for this team is going to be special.”
For Jamison, the sleepless nights and the anxious calls to Newmark were never really about vetting a stranger. They were about protecting something he has spent a career trying to preserve, in a Carolina jersey and out of one.
When Malone finally said yes, it wasn’t just a coaching search that ended. It was a debt Jamison felt he owed the program. And he was honored to do it.
Photo by Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
1 Comment