Hatchell Picked For Naismith Hall

ATLANTA --- North Carolina head women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell has been selected for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2013 class, the Hall of Fame announced Monday. Hatchell, who recently guided the Tar Heels to a 29-7 finish and the No. 3 seed in the Bridgeport Region of the NCAA Championship, will officially join the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday, September 8.

Hatchell joins coaches Guy Lewis, Rick Pitino and Jerry Tarkanian and players Bernard King, Gary Payton and Dawn Staley as members of the 2013 class that was formally introduced Monday as part of the Men's Final Four festivities in Atlanta. Five direct elect selections were also announced - Roger Brown (ABA Committee), Edwin B. Henderson (Early African-American Pioneers Committee), Oscar Schmidt (International Committee), Richard Guerin (Veterans Committee) and Russ Granik (Contributor Direct Election Committee).

A three-time national coach of the year, Hatchell is the first woman with Carolina ties to earn induction and joins nine other Tar Heels in the Naismith Hall of Fame - coaches Ben Carnevale, Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Larry Brown and Roy Williams, player/coach Billy Cunningham and players James Worthy, Robert McAdoo and Michael Jordan. In 2013, Hatchell became just the third women's coach in history to reach 900 career wins, and she currently stands No. 2 all-time behind legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt.

In addition to her 27 years in Chapel Hill, Hatchell's career also includes 11 seasons at Francis Marion in Florence, S.C. Her teams at Francis Marion won 272 games and national titles in 1982 and 1986.

She also has a lengthy international résumé, assisting Kay Yow with the gold medal-winning United States team at the 1988 Summer Olympics as well as leading several World University Games, World Championships, Goodwill Games and Jones Cup teams to gold as a head coach. 

Hatchell has won 636 games as the head coach at UNC in her 27 seasons at the helm. She has led the Tar Heels to eight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles and, in 1994, won the NCAA Championship on Charlotte Smith's buzzer-beating three-pointer against Louisiana Tech.