S queeze the Charmin: Hatchell Wins No. 500
SPORTS
Carolina’s latest basketball
milestone made all the
papers. But there was
one paper Sylvia Hatchell
probably didn’t want to hear
anything about.
On Monday, Feb. 4, Hatchell’s
team drove to Durham and took
care of the usually tough Blue
Devils, 93-76. As she has done in
the past, the coach stopped the bus
on Franklin Street and let her players engage in the celebration that
keeps on giving the next morning:
They rolled a couple of trees.
Only this time, the Chapel Hill
cops were not amused, and they
warned Hatchell about littering
and told the team to try to clean
it up, to which they obliged.
On Thursday, three days later,
Clemson got in the way of a team
— and a program — on a roll.
The Heels’ 79-47 rout was No.
500 for Hatchell in her 22nd year
at Carolina. The 500 is against 194
losses. Her overall coaching record
was 772-274 after the Clemson
game.
You wouldn’t know Hatchell
had lost 30 points a game when
Ivory Latta and Camille Little
graduated last spring. The Heels
ran through their conference
schedule unbeaten, losing only to
national powers Tennessee and
Connecticut. Less than a week
after the UConn loss, they beat
No. 4-ranked Maryland in two
overtimes.
Hatchell was named national
coach of the year in 1994, when
Carolina won it all, and again two
years ago, when the Heels made
the first of two straight trips to
the Final Four.
She has coached eight ACC
championship teams and is a
member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
All her previous head coaching
was at Francis Marion College
from 1975 through 1986. Hatchell
received her undergraduate physical education degree at Carson-Newman College and her master’s
from the University of Tennessee.
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THE NEWS & OBSERVER/JASON ARTHURS
Senior Laura Barry
fits Coach Sylvia
Hatchell with a
“500” cap after
the Heels routed
Clemson. She also
got a big cake decorated with light blue
roses and, of course,
a roll of toilet paper,
which she lobbed
safely into the student section.
Aug. 30
Sept. 11
Sept. 20
Sept. 27
Oct. 4
Oct. 11
McNeese State
Rutgers
Virginia Tech
Miami
Connecticut
Notre Dame
2008 Football Schedule
Chapel Hill Oct. 18 Virginia
Piscataway Oct. 25 Boston College
Chapel Hill Nov. 8 Georgia Tech
Miami Gardens Nov. 15 Maryland
Chapel Hill Nov. 22 N.C. State
Chapel Hill Nov. 29 Duke
Charlottesville
Chapel Hill
Homecoming
College Park
Chapel Hill
Durham
