ORANGE SLICES
By Laurie Paolicelli
Guest Columnist
The Malone Family. Photo courtesy of UNC Sports
Imagine being a 20-something college student, finding your footing, building your own life — and then finding out your dad is about to become the new head coach of the basketball team at your school.
That’s exactly what happened to Bridget Malone, a 6-foot-1 sophomore on the University of North Carolina women’s volleyball team. And from all accounts, she couldn’t be happier about it.
Bridget Malone is the daughter of new coach Michael Malone and a member of UNC Womens Volleyball.
Bridget was the first Malone in Chapel Hill. She came from Highlands Ranch, Colorado — a standout volleyball player at Mountain Vista High School, Colorado All-State, Colorado All-Academic, and a USA National Team Development Program athlete. She chose UNC on its own merits, on her own terms. She was building something of her own. A community. A home.
Then the phone started ringing.
When UNC’s search committee first reached out to her father, Michael Malone — NBA champion, 500-game winner, the man who guided the Denver Nuggets to their first-ever championship in 2023 — he thought it was no more than a courtesy call. And he wasn’t looking for a job. He wasn’t really interested in the beginning.
But Bridget was. She urged him to reconsider.
Bridget Malone and Michael Malone were featured on the cover of Mile High Magazine in 2023
At his introductory press conference last Tuesday at the Dean E. Smith Center, he joked about it. “I think she just wanted to be near her mother,” he said.
It wasn’t just a joke. The family has always been close — tightly knit in the way that comes from years of moving with a coach’s career, finding a new home with each other in every new city. Michael and his wife Jocelyn have been married since 1998, and to understand the Malone daughters, you have to understand their mother first.
Jocelyn Malone with her husband Michael Malone new UNC Men’s Basketball Coach.
Jocelyn Malone, née Cole, grew up in Canterbury, New Hampshire, attended Belmont High School, and went on to play four years of varsity volleyball at Providence College — the same college her future husband would later work as a assistant basketball coach. She wasn’t just a player; she was a force. Jocelyn finished her college career as an all-time school record holder with 346 blocks, helping the Friars post an 84-52 record during her time on the squad.
It wasn’t much of a mystery then when both Bridget and older sister Caitlin gravitated toward volleyball. Caitlin has been playing since she was six. They knew what it was like to compete at the highest level, to put in the work, to love the game.
But there’s something deeper at work here than a daughter nudging her dad toward a promising job. Children have a way of reshaping what matters most to their parents — quietly sometimes, and sometimes not so quietly. Bridget didn’t urge her father to come here simply because she wanted to be closer to her parents. She lobbied because she believed in him, and because she could see something he hadn’t yet: that Chapel Hill could be a home for them all.
The late Brendan Malone. File photo courtesy of NBA.
It turns out that Chapel Hill runs in the Malone blood. Michael’s father, Brendan Malone — a celebrated NBA coach in his own right, who famously failed to talk his son out of following him into coaching — was a lifelong Carolina fan and a devoted admirer of the great Dean Smith.
The Carolina connection spans three generations now. Brendan planted the seed; Bridget watered it; and Michael Malone — a 24-year NBA coaching veteran — is now the 20th head men’s basketball coach in UNC history.
Roy Williams smiles as new North Carolina men’s basketball head coach Michael Malone talks about his daughter.
The search committee helping to bring him here included names that would make any Carolina fan cheer — Antawn Jamison, who Malone once coached during his time as a Cavaliers assistant, and Kenny Smith, the longtime NBA player and broadcaster. Roy Williams, who coached the Tar Heels to three national championships, attended the press conference. It felt like the whole Carolina family was welcoming him to the fold.
And there in the front row, a sophomore volleyball player sat next to her mom, watching it all unfold. Jocelyn Malone — the record-setting blocker from Providence College who raised two volleyball players and stood beside her husband through every move, every city, every season — had finally seen the family land somewhere that felt like theirs from the get-go. No speech, no spotlight — just a quiet, steady look from her daughter aimed at the man at the podium. The kind of look that says: You got this, Dad.
Bridget was the first Malone in Chapel Hill. She made her own name and wrote her own story: a career-high nine kills against Syracuse, six digs at Boston College, a growing presence on a talented ACC squad. She did that all by herself. But also, in her own quiet way, she helped write the next chapter of Carolina basketball.
Plan your trip here: visitchapelhill.org and learn more about Tar Heels basketball here: https://goheels.com/sports/
Share your thoughts with me here, Laurie Paolicelli
Disclaimer: Published by Orange County’s Tourism Department through its Public Relations team, this story includes interviews and repurposed content from websites and partner press releases. For more, visit www.visitchapelhill.org or contact Laurie Paolicelli.
Laurie Paolicelli is executive director for the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, a position she has held since 2005. Laurie has worked in tourism and marketing for twenty-five years, having served in leadership roles in Houston and California convention and visitor bureaus. She is a native of the Twin Ports of Duluth, MN/Superior Wisconsin. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Communications from the University Wisconsin-Superior and graduate certification in Technology In Marketing from the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media. This reporter can be reached at Information@TheLocalReporter.press
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