CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- UNC has named its next women's basketball coach, hiring Courtney Banghart.

  • Courtney Banghart has been hired as the new UNC women's basketball head coach.
  • She is leaving Princeton, where under her leadership, the school has dominated the Ivy League.
  • Banghart replaces longtime coach Sylvia Hatchell split with UNC after a program review. 

She comes from Princeton University, where she led them to a 30-0 regular season in 2015 and was named Naismith National Coach of the Year.

After never playing in the NCAA Tournament prior to her arrival, Princeton went to the NCAA Tournament eight of the past 10 years and won seven Ivy League titles.  Banghart played at Dartmouth and worked as an assistant there before taking over at Princeton in 2007. 

"Courtney Banghart has proven she knows how to lead students to wins both on and off the court. She believes in developing strong character and a championship mentality, in recruiting and graduating players who want to serve their community, and in building relationships in and outside of her program. She is an outstanding addition to our department and University, and I am pleased to welcome Courtney and her family to our Carolina family," said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham in a statement. 

"I'm so grateful to everyone who has made Carolina what it is: the women who have worn the Carolina blue, Coach Hatchell who hung a banner, the men's program that brought us the Jump Man, the outstanding coaches who have been a model of consistent excellence, and the alumni who have loved this place with all their hearts. I'm honored to be your coach, and you will get my very best," said '' Banghart said.

Banghart will replace Sylvia Hatchell, a Hall of Fame coach who resigned April 18 after an outside program review reported she had made "racially insensitive" comments and pressured players to compete through medical issues. That review also cited a "breakdown of connectivity" between Hatchell and the players after 28 interviews of current players and program personnel.

The challenge awaiting Banghart in Chapel Hill starts with making a big step up from the Ivy League to running and recruiting for a power-conference program in a league headlined by national powers Notre Dame and Louisville. There's also a need for a jolt of energy for a program that had limped through several bumpy seasons even prior to Hatchell's exit.

Hatchell is the winningest women's coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history with 1,023 victories, with 751 of those coming during 33 seasons at UNC to go with eight ACC Tournament titles, three Final Fours and the 1994 NCAA championship.

But there had been difficulties in recent years. She had missed the 2013-14 season while battling leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy. The program also spent several seasons under the shadow of the school's multi-year academic case dealing with irregular courses featuring significant athlete enrollments across numerous sports, a case that reached a no-penalty conclusion in October 2017.

Along the way, there had been significant roster turnover with numerous transfers and hits to recruiting that contributed to the Tar Heels missing three straight NCAA Tournaments before returning to the field this year for the first time since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2015.

With approval from UNC's trustees, it will be up to Banghart to make the Tar Heels a perennial NCAA Tournament team and ACC contender again.

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.