Ode to Moach: The Man, the Myth, the Malone

Ten seasons.
A record four hundred seventy-seven wins.
One shiny, sparkly, symbolic ring.
And now—silence.

Not the silence of failure, but of memories falling before our eyes like snow on the Rockies,
Of an era closing like a perfectly perfect party we weren’t ready to leave just yet.

Michael Malone didn’t just coach the Denver Nuggets.
He fathered them. He fostered them. He fought for them. He forged them.

He called them family—and not in the PR-perfect, posturing social media kind of way.
In the way you bark at your brother when he’s slacking.
In the way you celebrate your cousin when they finally find their path.
In the way you ride or die for your people—even when the numbers say you should stop.

From the first press conference, the first red-faced rage timeout
To the last fist pump in a championship parade,
Moach made it clear:
He wasn’t here for the spotlight—one he shone in—he was here for the grind.

He coached a team, yes.
But he also taught a city how to believe.

In Nikola—the chubby second-rounder who decoded defenses like a dream and passed like a prophet.
In Jamal—who fell and rose and fell and rose again.
In AG, in MPJ, in CB and KCP and DJ and all the others.
In players whose names we forgot, but whose hustle he never did.

He believed in the slow build.
The redemption arc.
The shot clock violation.
The process nobody wanted, until it proved prescient.

And when it all finally bore fruit—a 16-4 playoff run crowned with confetti and a shiny trophy—
It wasn’t just a win. Wasn’t just a ring.
It was proof that consistency, resilience, heart, and EVEN defense actually still mean something in this league.
That you really can build a contender from scratch in a flyover market.

He was stubborn, my god, yes. Yes yes yes.
God bless the man’s refusal to call timeouts when the other team was on a 12-0 run, because none of the rest of us blessed it.
He’d glare at refs like they insulted his beloved mother.
Pace the sidelines like a philosophizing tiger.
Argue challenges like a lawyer with a PhD in basketball justice.

And yet, there was always a bit of a smirk in the fight, of purpose in the tech.
That sharp wit, that quote machine of a mouth that could drop Shakespeare as fast as shade without blinking.

Moach once said:

“I think the greatest taboos in America are faith and failure.”

And somehow, he made both wholly holy.
He had faith in his players long before we did.
He taught us that failure—those Game 7 heartbreaks, that 4OT loss, those blown leads—weren’t endings.
They were steps.

And we don’t skip steps.

And of course, when he really wanted remind you about who you were dealing with:

“Take that L on the way out with you.”

He meant it, from the bottom of his bottom.
He meant every glorious, chest-thumping, mic-dropping syllable. Usually off the top of his head.

Now he takes an L of his own—but not really.
Really, this L feels more like ours.
This isn’t his loss.
This is a legacy walking out the door.

The winningest coach in Nuggets history.
A leader whose loyalty was deeper than the numbers.
A man who made us proud not just because he won,
But because of how he won.

With grit.
With wit.
With Maxie Miner inked on his shoulder.
With family.

So what now?

Now we remember the way he’d side-eye a dumb question, and still be kind to every last reporter.
The way he’d lean into a huddle like he was croaking out the secrets of the universe.
The way he didn’t call his guys out individually, but took the slings and arrows as a collective.
The way he floated above the constant waves of rumor and innuendo now in his own undertow.

We remember the fire.
The film-room marathons.
The voice that gave out before his undying heart.
The faith in the overlooked player. In the overlooked idea. In the process.

We remember a coach who made us feel like part of the family, too.

Michael Malone, wherever you go next—be it rest or redemption—
Know that Denver stands for you.
We stand for the title you helped lead us to, sure.
But more than that, we stand for you.

You gave us more than a banner.
You gave us belief.

You turned Denver from a basketball afterthought into a championship city.
A title town. A hoops heaven.

And now, with our hearts full and our eyes more than a little wet,
We tip our hats, raise our glasses, and say—

Moach, you will always be a Nugget.
You will always be our coach.
No matter where the road takes you.

Take that love on the way out with you.