Michael Malone is already working to fill out his staff.

According to reports from both Inside Carolina and college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Malone and UNC are hiring Arkansas assistant Chuck Martin to be the Tar Heels’ associate head coach.

This will not be the first time Martin and Malone have sat on the same bench. The two worked together at Manhattan University in the 1999-2000 season before going their separate ways. Martin would then go on to work for UMass (2000-01), Drexel (2001-04) and St. John’s (2004-06).

Martin began to enjoy tremendous success when he joined the staff at Memphis in 2006, the first of three collaborations with then-Tiger head coach John Calipari. From 2006 to 2008, Memphis won 71 out of 77 games, reached the 2008 national championship game and produced NBA No. 1 pick Derrick Rose.

Martin took the head coaching job at Marist in 2008 and stayed there five seasons. He was fired in 2013 after winning just 41 games across those five seasons. He later worked for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder (2013-14) before returning to the college ranks at Indiana (2014-17), South Carolina (2017-22) and Oregon (2022-23). He reunited with Calipari at Kentucky for the 2023-24 season and served as both assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Martin helped Calipari’s Wildcats build a 2024 class ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Martin followed Calipari to Arkansas, where he spent the previous two seasons. The Razorbacks have reached back-to-back Sweet 16s in the NCAA Tournament and secured the services of highly-ranked recruits, including SEC Player of the Year and first team All-American Darius Acuff in 2025. Both of Arkansas’ recruiting classes under Calipari and Martin ranked in the nation’s top five.

The program has not yet confirmed Martin’s hiring, nor has it divulged any information as to the futures of the remaining assistants from former head coach Hubert Davis’ staff. In an interview with the Carolina Insider Podcast, Antawn Jamison (who served on the committee which worked to hire Malone) expressed confidence that assistants Sean May and Pat Sullivan would return. Marcus Paige has already been named an assistant at Charlotte.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet

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