Sylvia Hatchell

Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell (born February 28, 1952) is a former American women's basketball coach, who last coached for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and was the fifth with the most career wins in NCAA women's basketball history, behind former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, and UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

Hatchell graduated from Carson–Newman College with a BS degree in physical education in 1974.

She completed her master's degree the following year at the University of Tennessee.

Hatchell realized that coaching was her calling when she was asked to coach a junior high girls' basketball team in 1974.

She followed that with a brief stint as the junior varsity basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, then moved on to become the coach at Francis Marion College, where she would remain for the next eleven years, compiling a 272–80 record.

Hatchell was the assistant coach of the team representing the USA at the World University Games held in Edmonton, Canada in July 1983.

The first game against Hong Kong was a mismatch—the USA team would outscore their opponents by triple digits, 134–23.

Joyce Walker's 26 points alone were more than the entire Hong Kong team.

The next two games against France and West Germany were closer, but the USA still won by 16 and 15 points respectively.

The USA team faced Romania and lost by 14 points 85–71.

The next opponent was Yugoslavia, which the USA needed to win to stay in medal contention.

The game was close, but the USA won by a single point 86–85 to head to a rematch with Romania for the gold medal.

The Romanian team started out strong, and held a six-point lead at halftime.

The USA team came back, out scoring their opponents 47–19 in the second half, and won the game, earning the gold medal.

In 1986, Hatchell would take the head coaching position at the University of North Carolina.

Under Hatchell's leadership the Tar Heels would become one of the nation's top basketball teams and also become a mainstay in the NCAA tournament.

This was the first time she has missed any games coaching since January 1989, when she was out for the birth of her son.

She was treated with aggressive chemotherapy at UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She competed with USA Basketball as the head coach of the 1994 Jones Cup Team that won the gold in Taipei.

The highlight of Hatchell's career was winning the national championship in 1994.

The title game against Louisiana Tech was one of the more exciting finishes in tournament history.

Louisiana Tech had scored with 14 seconds to go in the game, giving them a two-point lead, 59–57.

UNC's Tonya Sampson attempted a shot with four seconds to go in the game that would tie the game, but it did not go in.

The Tar Heels rebounded the ball and called a time out, with only 0.7 seconds left in the game.

Stephanie Lawrence passed the ball inbounds to Charlotte Smith, who hit a 20-foot jump shot for three points to win the game and the national championship at the buzzer.

Hatchell was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.

UNC faced the same opponent for Hatchell's 700th victory, on January 16, 2006.

In 2009, Hatchell became only the fourth coach of a women's basketball team to reach the 800-win plateau.

The win came against in-state rival North Carolina State, and was tough, as the Tar Heels needed overtime to pull out the win.

Hatchell's son, Van, graduated from UNC in 2011 and was a walk-on senior on the 2010–11 men's basketball team.

In 2013, Hatchell was forced to step aside from her coaching duties when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October.

A routine physical in September showed a low white blood cell count, which eventually led to the diagnosis.

She was able to resume coaching at the start of the 2014–15 season.

UNC extended Hatchell's contract through the 2019–20 season on September 22, 2016.

On December 19, 2017, Hatchell became the third coach in women's basketball history to record 1,000 career wins, when the Tar Heels defeated Grambling State.

The contract was originally set to expire in 2018.

On April 2, 2019, Hatchell and three assistants were placed on administrative leave following accusations of racially insensitive remarks and forcing players to play while injured.

She resigned as North Carolina's head coach on April 18, 2019.

On April 18, 2019, Sylvia Hatchell resigned as head coach of UNC women's basketball.

Source for Francis Marion: