Kenny Smith was outspoken over the past several weeks as North Carolina searched for a new head coach amid March Madness, initially responding to speculation he would be a good candidate for the job.
Smith quickly dismissed that notion while on coverage of one of the NCAA Tournament games along with his colleagues in the studio, before delivering his thoughts on what North Carolina needed to consider for its next coach. In the days following that, much was made about how the program would make the unprecedented move to hire a coach not associated with the “UNC family.”
Some of the early candidates who appeared in speculation included Arizona State’s Tommy Lloyd, Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger, and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls coach, Billy Donovan. However, the Tar Heels made a surprising move, hiring a candidate never mentioned anywhere, as they brought in former Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone to fill the vacancy.
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Smith, who appears on ESPN’s NBA coverage, was on Wednesday night’s “SportsCenter,” where Malika Andrews led everyone in a congratulatory round of applause for their “friend” Malone being hired as UNC coach, leaving his position with the network for the new job.
Smith made his feelings extremely clear on UNC hiring Malone. In fact, the well-known basketball analyst claimed he was a major part of the move to bring him as the new coach, indicating that Bubba Cunningham and Steve Newmark asked for his feedback.
“Every other day we were on the phone for about an hour, hour and a half with the ADs of North Carolina, and at the end of every call I would say, ‘Mike Malone’s the guy,'” Smith shared.
Smith also mentioned that it’s hard to run into a championship-winning coach walking around Los Angeles, unless you maybe bumped into Tyronn Lue, who is coaching the Clippers. However, Malone, who won a championship coaching the Nuggets, was a friend of Smith’s from his NBA days and, more recently, as a colleague at ESPN.
“I just thought he would be a great fit there,” he said, adding, “We didn’t hire outside the family. He was in the family- distant cousin.”
Smith’s remarks about Malone being a “distant cousin” refer to the fact that Malone’s daughter currently attends the University of North Carolina, giving him an association with the school in that regard.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins also jokingly called out Smith as “under investigation for illegal tampering,” with Smith retorting, “he doesn’t even have a job!”
During his introductory press conference this week, Malone made sure to express his gratitude for Smith, among other UNC alumni, for their supportive remarks to help him land the coaching job.
“I never take it lightly when somebody believes in you and they endorse you and they feel that strong to put their name behind you, and that’s what Antawn (Jamison) did. That’s what Kenny Smith did. That’s what a lot of players who were here were able to do. So I want to thank those three members of the search committee for having a belief in me,” he said.
Malone will now be tasked with turning the Tar Heels back into the type of successful program that has won championships under Dean Smith and Roy Williams, something former coach Hubert Davis was unable to accomplish in five seasons.
Read more: North Carolina Loses Another Guard to Transfer Portal After Coaching Hire
For more about college basketball, head over to Newsweek Sports.
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