UNC women’s coach Hatchell resigns amid probe
Hall of Famer Sylvia Hatchell has resigned as head coach of North Carolina’s women’s basketball program amid a school investigation into allegations she made racially offensive remarks.
The Tar Heels announced Hatchell’s resignation Thursday night.
“The University commissioned a review of our women’s basketball program, which found issues that led us to conclude that the program needed to be taken in a new direction,” athletics director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “It is in the best interests of our University and student-athletes for us to do so. Coach Hatchell agrees, and she offered her resignation today. I accepted it.
“We appreciate her 33 years of service to Carolina and to the community, and we wish her the best. Our focus now is on conducting a search for a new head coach who will build on our great Carolina traditions and promote a culture of excellence.”
Hatchell also released a statement, saying in part, “The game of basketball has given me so much, but now it is time for me to step away. … I will forever love the University of North Carolina. I am Sylvia Hatchell, and I am a Tar Heel.”
North Carolina had placed Hatchell and her three assistants on paid administrative leave earlier this month and was reviewing the program, saying that the review was “due to issues raised by student-athletes and others.”
According to a report in The Washington Post, citing interviews with seven people with knowledge of the investigation, Hatchell was under investigation over allegations she made racially offensive remarks — including telling her players they would get “hanged from trees with nooses” if they didn’t improve — and tried to force players to compete through serious injuries.
Hatchell’s attorney, Wade Smith, told the Post the racially offensive remarks attributed to Hatchell by parents were incorrect and misconstrued.
“She said, ‘They’re going to take a rope and string us up, and hang us out to dry,'” Smith told the Post.
“There is not a racist bone in her body. … A very high percentage of the people who have played for her and who love her are African-American women. She is a terrific coach and a truly world-class human being.”
Hatchell, a 2013 Hall of Fame inductee, is the winningest women’s basketball coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history. She has a career record of 1,023-405 and is 751-325 in 33 years at UNC with a national title in 1994.
North Carolina went 18-15 this past season, with upsets of top-10 teams NC State and Notre Dame. The Tar Heels lost to Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament, their first trip there since 2015.