According to a report from Inside Carolina, Bryan Tibaldi, who spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach at Providence, will join head coach Michael Malone’s UNC staff in the same position.
Prior to arriving at Providence, Tibaldi had spent several years in the Cleveland Cavaliers organization in the NBA. Cleveland initially hired Tibaldi as an assistant with its G-League affiliate team, the Canton Charge, in 2019. He was eventually promoted to a player development coach and video assistant with the big club in 2021 before finally assuming the role of assistant coach in 2024. With Tibaldi on the bench, the 2024-25 Cavaliers finished with 64 wins and secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Earlier in his career, Tibaldi held positions with Cleveland State, DePaul and Missouri in the college ranks and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. He played college basketball at Michigan State, graduating in 2007 as a two-year letterwinner and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Tibaldi served as a graduate assistant on head coach Tom Izzo’s staff for two seasons after graduating. Ironically, Tibaldi’s last game on staff with Michigan State saw the Spartans lose to UNC in the 2009 national championship game.
During his lone season at Providence, Tibaldi served as an assistant to head coach Kim English. English himself was connected to Michael Malone’s UNC staff briefly, with reports of his hiring surfacing in April. However, English elected not to join the Tar Heel bench shortly thereafter.
Tibaldi is the third reported new addition to Malone’s staff, after he hired former Arkansas assistant Chuck Martin earlier in the offseason and reportedly hired former UNC player Deon Thompson Tuesday.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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