Sources: UNC's Michael Malone among highest-paid coaches - ESPN

North Carolina is set to pay new head coach Michael Malone a yearly average of more than $8.3 million across a six-year contract, sources confirmed to ESPN's Pete Thamel, putting him among the top five highest-paid coaches in the sport.

The Tar Heels made the hire of the former Denver Nuggets coach official Tuesday.

Malone, whose daughter plays volleyball at UNC, was recommended by a search committee led by executive associate athletic director Steve Newmark and director of athletics Bubba Cunningham, the school said in its statement. The university's board of trustees approved the terms of the hire on Tuesday.

WRAL News in Raleigh first reported Malone's salary.

"[Malone] is a brilliant coach who will deliver a modern and disciplined approach to leading our men's basketball program, which is critical in the current landscape of college athletics," Newmark said in the statement. «Carolina basketball is unique and special — and we have hired a leader well-suited to continuing our championship tradition.»

Malone will be hold an introductory news conference at Chapel Hill at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Malone is an NBA champion from his time with the Nuggets and won 510 games in 12 seasons as a head coach. He is one of the most respected tacticians in the NBA and has spent the past 10-plus months as an ESPN analyst. He will inherit a Tar Heels team that has been seeking a head coaching replacement for nearly two weeks since firing Hubert Davis.

Malone hasn't coached in college since he was an assistant at Manhattan in 2001. He also was an assistant at Providence from 1995 to 1998 and Oakland in 1994-95.

«Carolina is one of the most historic programs in college basketball, and I am honored to be the head coach of the Tar Heels,»