Michael Malone Recruits Differently and It Shows

Sisk began by comparing how Malone's staff differs from the previous regime, led by former head coach Hubert Davis.

• "I'm not going to say that there's a difference, but Malone is very personable," Sisk said. "Malone chats it up. You can tell there's a lot of laughing, a lot of shaking hands, hugging, sharing stuff, laughing with other coaches. I could see him being a good recruiter because he seems to be very, very personable."

• "The previous staff - they stayed together, they're off to themselves a lot, if there were three of them, they would all go watch the same player, they didn't split up," Sisk continued. "Hubert [Davis] was comfortable not being front and center. I was in Memphis last year, and a national writer asked me, 'Is North Carolina here?' I told him, they [Davis and his staff] are up there in the top corner."

• "You found [Michael] Malone right there on the baseline," Sisk elaborated. "Then they [Malone and his staff] would split up. I thought that Sean May (assistant coach) had more autonomy than he'd had before."

Shortly after being formally announced as the Tar Heels' next basketball coach, Malone instantly identified Arkansas' assistant coach Chuck Martin, who has served under John Calipari in multiple spots.

• "The other thing too, Chuck Martin seems to be the guy that everybody likes," Sisk said. "I mean, everybody's just glad to see him and he seems just like kind of a laid-back kind of guy and knows everybody and is big in relationships. He's been doing this a long time, too. You got to remember. It's not like he is a newcomer."

Overall, Sisk was very impressed with North Carolina's coaching staff, and he believes it could be a major factor in the program turning things around following a disaapointing stretch.

• "I think me seeing them for the first time, I thought what they did was impressive," Sisk elaborated. "I think they handled everything well, just as far as showing themselves to the public and the players. The players knew they were there - that's the important thing. I really like the way they went about it."

Main Takeaways

Malone's coaching ability will be apparent early on, but the main question pertaining to his transition from the NBA to college is how he will fare in the recruiting process. It's safe to say that he has at least met expectations during his first offseason.

So far, he has demonstrated he is capable of landing elite talent in the transfer portal and recruiting pool, even though he has had limited time to acclimate to that aspect of the job. To his credit, which he stated during his introductory press conference in April, Malone has assembled a staff with versatile strengths, including recruiting, which is what Martin has specialized in throughout his career.

If North Carolina orchestrates a prolonged run in the NCAA tournament next season, I expect Malone's recruiting success to take a significant leap, with a full year under his belt.