Carolina Athletics Traditions
• Carolina's National Athletes of The Year
• First-Team Academic All-Americas
CAROLINA ATHLETICS
A Historical Summary (as of August 2025)
• Carolina is a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, competing in the league each year beginning in 1953-54. Prior to that, UNC competed in the Southern Conference.
• Carolina sponsors 28 varsity programs, including 15 women's and 13 men's sports.
• Bubba Cunningham is the director of athletics, the seventh in Carolina history following Robert A. Fetzer (1923-52), Chuck Erickson (1953-67), Homer Rice (1969-75), Bill Cobey (1976-80), John Swofford (1980-97) and Dick Baddour (1997-2011). Cunningham became UNC's director of athletics in the fall of 2011. On July 1, 2025, Carolina announced that following the 2025-26 academic year, Steve Newmark will succeed Cunningham as the eighth director of athletics.
• The women's program began in 1971-72 for basketball, field hockey, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. Varsity letters for women were first issued in 1974-75.
• Tennis player Camey Timberlake was the first female scholarship student-athlete in the fall of 1974.
• The first Black student-athlete was men’s soccer player Edwin Okoroma in 1963. Naismith Hall of Famer Charlie Scott was the first Black scholarship athlete, joining Dean Smith’s men’s basketball program in 1966.
• The first Black female scholarship student-athletes were women’s basketball players Kathy Crawford, Henrietta Walls and Deanna Thomas in 1979.
• Hubert West was Carolina’s first Black head coach. He led the track and field program for two seasons beginning in 1981.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
• The Tar Heels have won 52 NCAA team championships in eight different sports, including 22 women's soccer, 11 field hockey, six men's basketball, five men's lacrosse, four women's lacrosse, two men's soccer, one women's basketball and one women’s tennis.
• Women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse won NCAA championships in 2024-25. It was the 13th time Carolina has won multiple NCAA championships in the same academic year (1981-82, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2012-13, 2015-16, 2022-23 and 2024-25).
• Women’s soccer won its first national title since 2012 by defeating Wake Forest, 1-0, on a second-half goal by Olivia Thomas. Thomas was the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player and goalie Clare Gagne was the Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
• Women’s lacrosse beat Northwestern, 12-8, to win the program’s fourth title. Chloe Humphrey, the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scored four goals and had an assist. Her sister, Ashley, had four assists. The Tar Heels outscored Florida and Northwestern, 32-12, in the national semifinal and final.
Carolina’s NCAA Championships (52)
Women’s Soccer, 22 (1982-83-84-86-87-88-89-90-91-92-93-94-96-97-99-2000-03-06-08-09-12-24)
Field Hockey, 11 (1989-95-96-97-2007-09-18-19-20-22-23)
Men’s Basketball, 6 (1957-82-93-2005-09-17)
Men’s Lacrosse, 5 (1981-82-86-91-2016)
Women’s Lacrosse, 4 (2013-16-22-25)
Men’s Soccer, 2 (2001-11)
Women’s Basketball, 1 (1994)
Women’s Tennis,1 (2023)
Carolina’s NCAA 52 Championships by Head Coach
Anson Dorrance, Women’s Soccer, 21 (1982-83-84-86-87-88-89-90-91-92-93-94-96-97-99-2000-03-06-08-09-12)
Karen Shelton, Field Hockey, 10 (1989-95-96-97-2007-09-18-19-20-22)
* Jenny Levy, Women’s Lacrosse, 4 (2013-16-22-25)
Willie Scroggs, Men’s Lacrosse, 3 (1981-82-86)
Roy Williams, Men’s Basketball, 3 (2005-09-17)
Dean Smith, Men’s Basketball, 2 (1982-93)
Frank McGuire, Men’s Basketball, 1 (1957)
Dave Klarmann, Men’s Lacrosse, 1 (1991)
Sylvia Hatchell, Women’s Basketball, 1 (1994)
Elmar Bolowich, Men’s Soccer, 1 (2001)
* Carlos Somoano, Men’s Soccer, 1 (2011)
* Joe Breschi, Men’s Lacrosse, 1 (2016)
* Brian Kalbas, Women’s Tennis, 1 (2023)
* Erin Matson, Field Hockey, 1 (2023)
* Damon Nahas, Women’s Soccer, 1 (2024)
* indicates active UNC head coach
• Former women’s soccer head coach Anson Dorrance is the all-time Division I leader in NCAA championships in any sport with 21. Al Scates (UCLA men’s volleyball) and John McDonnell (Arkansas men’s indoor track and field) are second with 19 apiece. Dorrance is tied for second in NCAA titles in all divisions (Jim Steen of Division III Kenyon won 29 men’s swimming and diving from 1980-2010 and 21 women’s titles from 1984-2009).
• In addition to 52 NCAA titles, UNC has won 11 other national championships for a total of 63. The Helms Foundation declared the 1923-24 men's basketball team national champions, women's soccer won the AIAW national title in 1981, women's tennis won ITA indoor national tournaments in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and men’s tennis won ITA indoor national titles in 2016 and 2021.
Other National Championships (11)
Women’s Tennis, 7 – ITA Indoor (2013-15-18-20-21-22-23)
Men’s Tennis, 2 – ITA Indoor (2016-21)
Women’s Soccer, 1 – AIAW (1981)
Men’s Basketball, 1 – Helms Foundation (1924)
Other National Championships by Head Coach
* Brian Kalbas, Women’s Tennis, 7 – ITA Indoor (2013-15-18-20-21-22-23)
* Sam Paul, Men’s Tennis, 2 – ITA Indoor (2016-21)2
Anson Dorrance, Women’s Soccer, 1 – AIAW (1981)
Norman Shepard, Men’s Basketball, 1 – Helms Foundation (1924)
• Carolina is tied with Arkansas for the seventh-most titles in NCAA history with 52 (13 men and 39 women).
• As a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Carolina has won more NCAA championships (52) than any other university. Virginia is second with 35, and Duke is third with 17. Other current ACC institutions that have won NCAA titles as members of the ACC include Wake Forest 11, Florida State 8, Notre Dame 8, Boston College 5, NC State 5, Clemson 4, Syracuse 3, Stanford 2 and Georgia Tech 1. Maryland, which is no longer a member of the ACC, won 27 NCAA titles while competing in the ACC.
• Carolina is third in NCAA history with 39 women's team championships. Only Stanford (67) and UCLA (45) have won more.
• Carolina’s 50th NCAA title was won by field hockey in 2023 under first-year head coach Erin Matson, who won NCAA titles as a Tar Heel player in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Matson became the youngest coach in ACC history to win a national championship in any sport.
• UNC field hockey is first all-time in NCAA Tournament Final Fours (28), championship game appearances (22), tournament appearances (41), wins (83) and games (113).
• Carolina’s 2022 field hockey NCAA championship, in Karen Shelton’s 42nd and final season as head coach, set all-time field hockey records for the most championships by a team and head coach (10). Shelton led UNC to field hockey national championships in five consecutive decades (80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s).
• Carolina’s 22 NCAA titles in women’s soccer are the most by a team in women’s soccer history. The Tar Heels are also first in Final Fours (32), championship game appearances (28), tournament appearances (43), wins (153) and games (176).
• Carolina women’s soccer won nine consecutive national championships from 1986-1994, the second-longest championship streak by a Division I women’s program in NCAA history (LSU outdoor track and field won 11 in a row from 1987-97). UNC’s nine straight titles equal the third-most consecutive by any Division I program (Arkansas men’s indoor track won 12 straight from 1984-95).
• Carolina women's soccer has won more NCAA championships (22) than any other women's team in collegiate sports history. Stanford women's tennis is second with 20. LSU outdoor track and field and Maryland lacrosse are tied for third with 14. Among ACC schools and teams, Carolina field hockey is second only to the UNC women’s soccer team in NCAA women’s championships with 11, while Duke women’s golf is third with seven.
• Carolina women’s soccer’s 22 NCAA championships are the fifth-most by any program in Division I history. Oklahoma State wrestling leads with 34, followed by Southern California men’s outdoor track and field (26), Denver skiing (24), Iowa wrestling (24) and UNC women’s soccer (22).
• The Tar Heels have won six NCAA titles in men’s basketball, tied for the third most in college basketball history behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8). Carolina has played in the most Final Fours (21) and won the most NCAA Tournament games (134) in college basketball history. UNC is second in tournament appearances (53) and games (185).
• Carolina men’s basketball is the only team to play in the Final Four in each of the last nine decades (1940s-50s-60s-70s-80s-90s-2000s-2010s-2020s).
• Carolina’s five NCAA championships are the fifth most in men’s lacrosse history. The four women’s lacrosse championships are the third most all-time in the sport.
• Carolina has won 87 individual, relay or doubles national championships in 14 sports, including two in 2024-25. Makayla Paige won the indoor 800 meters in women’s track and field and Ethan Strand won the indoor 3,000 meters in men’s track and field.
• Sue Walsh, one of the elite backstrokers in U.S. swimming history, won 11 national championships (10 in the backstroke and one medley relay) from 1981-84. Eight of Walsh’s national titles were NCAA championships and three were conducted by the AIAW.
• T.J. Jaworsky, the 1994-95 National Wrestler of the Year and the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 1995 NCAA Championships, is the only male athlete at Carolina to win three individual championships. He won titles at 134 pounds in 1993, 1994 (in the Smith Center) and 1995.
• Four-time national champions include Shalane Flanagan (two in women’s cross country and two in track and field), Laura Gerraughty (women’s track and field, shot put) and Aranza Vázquez Montaño (women’s diving).
• Three-time national champions include Jaworsky, women’s track and field’s Brie Felnagle and Alice Schmidt and women’s tennis’ Elizabeth Scotty.
• Two-time national champions include gymnast Courtney Bumpers, men’s swimming’s Charlie Krepp, women’s swimming’s Barb Harris and Ann Marshall, men’s track and field’s Eric Bishop (high jump), Justin Ryncavage (javelin), distance star Tony Waldrop, sprinters Milton Campbell, Ken Harnden and Tony McCall, women’s track and field’s Georgia Kloss and Monique Hennagan and wrestling’s Austin O’Connor.
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Carolina has won 299 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, 142 more than any other current ACC school. Virginia is second among current ACC schools with 157. Maryland won 200 before leaving the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014.
ACC Championships (men’s and women’s)
North Carolina, 299
Maryland (former member), 200
Virginia, 157
NC State, 151
Duke, 148
Clemson, 144
Carolina’s ACC Championships by Team
Field Hockey, 27
Men's Tennis, 25
Women's Soccer, 23
Men's Basketball, 18
Men's Swimming and Diving, 17
Wrestling, 17
Women's Swimming and Diving, 16
Women's Indoor Track and Field, 15
Men’s Lacrosse, 14
Women's Outdoor Track and Field, 14
Baseball, 13
Women’s Tennis, 13
Volleyball, 13
Men's Golf, 12
Men’s Cross Country, 10
Women’s Basketball, 9
Men’s Fencing, 9
Women’s Lacrosse, 8
Football, 5
Men’s Outdoor Track and Field, 5
Women’s Cross Country, 4
Men’s Soccer, 4
Men’s Indoor Track and Field, 4
Women’s Golf, 2
Women’s Fencing, 1
Softball, 1
• The Tar Heels have won 153 ACC men’s team championships and 146 women’s championships.
• Field hockey’s 27 championships are the third-most by any ACC men’s or women’s team.
• In 2003, Tar Heel alumni Michael Jordan (men's basketball, 1981-84) and Mia Hamm (women's soccer, 1989-93) were named the top male and female athletes, respectively, in the first 50 years of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In 2000, ESPN named Jordan the Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century, placing him ahead of Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali.
LEARFIELD DIRECTORS’ CUP
• Carolina finished fourth in the 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup, equaling the Tar Heels’ best national finish in the last 16 seasons. It was Carolina’s sixth-straight top-10 finish and was the ninth time in the last 10 years the Tar Heels finished in the top 10.
. The Directors’ Cup measures NCAA postseason results for every school in the country. It was Carolina’s 26th top-10 finish in the 31-year history of the multi-sport competition (no results in 2019-20 due to the pandemic).
• UNC's 26 top-10 finishes are the third-most among all schools behind Stanford and Florida. Virginia is next among ACC schools with 10 top-10 finishes.
• UNC won the first-ever Directors’ Cup in 1994. Carolina, Stanford and Texas are the only schools to win the all-sports competition.
• The Tar Heels have finished first among ACC schools in the Directors’ Cup 20 times and second six times.
• Carolina has averaged a seventh-place finish in the 31-year history of the Directors’ Cup. In addition to winning the competition in 1994, UNC has finished second four times (1995, 1997, 1998 and 2009).
• Women’s soccer has contributed the most points (2,418) for the Tar Heels in the 31-year history of the Directors’ Cup. Field hockey is second (2,107) and is followed in the top 10 by women’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, men’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, baseball, men’s tennis, and women’s basketball.
UNC Directors’ Cup Year-by-Year finishes
Year, Place
2025, 4th
2024, 7th
2023, 8th
2022, 6th
2021, 4th
2019, 10th
2018, 13th
2017, 5th
2016, 7th
2015, 5th
2014, 14th
2013, 8th
2012, 8th
2011, 6th
2010, 7th
2009, 2nd
2008, 14th
2007, 3rd
2006, 4th
2005, 9th
2004, 7th
2003, 8th
2002, 4th
2001, 15th
2000, 5th
1999, 17th
1998, 2nd
1997, 2nd
1996, 6th
1995, 2nd
1994, 1st
PATTERSON MEDALS
• Men’s golf’s David Ford (Peachtree Corners, Ga.), diver Aranza Vázquez Montaño (La Paz, Mexico) and men’s cross country/track and field’s Ethan Strand (Vestavia, Ala.) and Parker Wolfe (Denver, Colo.) won the 2024-25 Patterson Medals.
• The Patterson family began presenting the award in 1924. The Patterson Medal is a career achievement award given to the most outstanding student-athletes who competed at UNC for at least three seasons and concluded their playing careers.
• Aranza Vázquez Montaño won both the 1- and 3-meter NCAA diving championships in 2023 and 2024, becoming the second diver in ACC history, and the first women’s diver, to win four NCAA titles. The two-time member of the Mexico Olympic Team (2020 and 2024) tied track and field thrower Laura Gerraughty and distance runner Shalane Flanagan for the second-most individual NCAA titles ever by a female Tar Heel athlete (trailing only swimmer Sue Walsh’s eight). Vázquez Montaño was an eight-time ACC champion and was named the Most Valuable Women’s Diver at the ACC Championships in 2023, 2024 and 2025. She tied ACC records by winning the 1-meter and 3-meter titles three times apiece and added a pair of titles in platform diving. She holds the Tar Heel records in all three disciplines, totaling 379.25 points on the 1 meter in 2023, 409.60 on 3 meters in 2023 and 337.10 on platform in 2021. She also holds the ACC Championship record in 1-meter diving. Vázquez Montaño earned 11 All-America honors, including five first-team awards, and was selected ACC Women’s Diver of the Week 18 times. She is the first Tar Heel diver, male or female, to win the Patterson Medal and the fourth member of the women’s swimming and diving team to win the award (Bonny Brown in 1980, Sue Walsh in 1984 and Katie Hathaway in 2002).
• Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe led Carolina to the 2023 ACC Cross Country championship (UNC’s first since 1985), the 2024 ACC Indoor title (its first in 28 years) and back-to-back top-10 finishes in the NCAA Indoor Championships (fifth in 2024 and tied for eighth in 2025). They are the only men’s track and field athletes to win ACC Indoor and Outdoor Athlete-of-the-Year awards in the same year and were the first Tar Heel semifinalists for the Bowerman Award, the USTFCCCA’s top award. They are the first men’s track and field athletes to win Patterson Medals since hurdler Kenny Selmon in 2018 and the first distance runners since Tony Waldrop in 1974.
• Strand was the 2025 NCAA champion in the indoor 3,000 and became the first ever to break collegiate records in the indoor mile and 3,000 in the same season. He was the national runner-up as a senior in the indoor distance medley relay and the outdoor 1,500. A five-time ACC champion, Strand became the first Tar Heel and only the fourth in ACC men’s track history to win the outdoor 1,500 three times. He also won the indoor 3,000 in 2023 and the indoor 5,000 in 2025 and placed second in the 2024 ACC Cross Country Championship. He was a seven-time All-America (five times first team), the 2025 ACC Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, 2025 USTFCAA National & Southeast Region Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, three-time national track athlete of the week (twice indoor, once outdoor) and 2025 ACC Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Strand ran the second-fastest outdoor 1,500 in NCAA history, setting the ACC/UNC records in 3:33.22. He also set UNC records in the indoor mile, 3,000 and DMR and the outdoor 1,500, the ACC meet record in winning the indoor 5,000 in 2025 and teamed with Wolfe as members of the indoor distance medley relay that set an unratified American record. He is the third-ranked indoor miler in U.S. history.
• Wolfe, the 2024 NCAA champion in the outdoor 5,000, was the first four-time men’s cross country All-America in UNC history and is the only individual to win ACC Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Performer-of-the-Year Awards in the same academic year (2023-24). He ran the second-fastest indoor 3,000 and eighth-fastest outdoor 5,000 in NCAA history. He placed second in the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championship in the 3,000 and 5,000, becoming the first Tar Heel to medal in two events in the same year. He was a member of UNC’s distance medley relay that finished second in the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championship. Wolfe won seven ACC titles (one cross country, two indoor and four outdoor), becoming the only individual to win the ACC 5,000 and 10,000 in consecutive seasons, and was a two-time ACC Meet MVP (2024 Indoor and 2025 Outdoor). He is the all-time ACC and ACC meet record holder in the outdoor 5,000. A 11-time All-America (four cross country, five indoor and two outdoor), Wolfe was twice named ACC Cross Country Runner of the Year, a two-time USTFCCCA Southeast Region Cross Country Athlete of the Year, 2024 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Outdoor Athlete of the Year and won national track athlete-of-the-week honors four times.
NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
• Four Tar Heels – Kate Faasse (women’s soccer), Ethan Strand (men’s indoor track and field), David Ford (men’s golf) and Chloe Humphrey (women’s lacrosse) – won National Player/Athlete-of-the-Year awards in 2024-25.
• Kate Faasse was the nation’s top scorer and led Carolina to the 2024 NCAA women’s soccer championship. She won the 2024 Hermann Trophy as the National Player of the Year (the eighth Tar Heel to win the Hermann a total of 10 times), and the Honda Sport Award for women’s soccer (the 11th Tar Heel to win the Honda a total of 12 times).
• Strand was the NCAA champion in the indoor 3,000 meters, becoming the first collegiate athlete to break NCAA records in the indoor mile and 3,000 in the same season. The U.S. Track Coaches Association named him the Men’s Indoor Athlete of the Year.
• Ford won the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus Awards, was named NPOY by Golfweek, was voted ACC Player of the Year for the second time and was the ACC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is the first Tar Heel men’s golfer to earn first-team All-America honors twice.
• Chloe Humphrey won numerous National Player-of-the-Year awards in leading the women’s lacrosse team to an undefeated season and fourth NCAA title. Humphrey was the Honda Sport Award winner for women’s lacrosse, became the first Tar Heel to win the Tewaaraton Award and was the IWLCA’s Player of the Year. Humphrey scored 90 goals with 28 assists for 118 points in 22 games. Her 90 goals set an NCAA freshman record and UNC single-season record. She was first-team All-America and All-ACC, was the ACC Tournament MVP and NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
• Humphrey became the second Tar Heel freshman to win a National Player-of-the-Year award. Jamie Loeb (women’s tennis) was the first in 2013-14.
• Including Faasse, Ford, Humphrey and Strand, 61 Tar Heels have won National Player/Athlete-of-the-Year awards in 14 sports, a total of 73 times.
• Field hockey’s Erin Matson (2019, 2020 and 2022) and women’s soccer’s Cindy Parlow (1996, 1997, 1998) both won NPOY honors three times, the only three-time winners.
• Men’s basketball’s George Glamack (1940, 1941) and Michael Jordan (1983, 1984), field hockey’s Cindy Werley (1996, 1997), women’s lacrosse’s Jamie Ortega (2020, 2022) and women’s soccer’s April Heinrichs (1984, 1986), Shannon Higgins (1988, 1989), Kristine Lilly (1990, 1991), Mia Hamm (1992, 1993) and Debbie Keller (1995, 1996) each won twice.
• National Players of the Year by sport: women’s soccer (19 players in 26 seasons), men’s basketball (11 players in 13 seasons), field hockey (seven players in 10 seasons), baseball (four), women’s lacrosse (four players in five seasons), men’s lacrosse (three), women’s tennis (three), women’s basketball (two), and women’s diving (one), men’s golf (three), football (one), men’s soccer (one), men’s track and field (one) and wrestling (one).
• In addition to 73 NPOY awards, Tar Heels have won 31 positional awards in football, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer and baseball. In 2024-25, Jake Knapp was the National Pitcher of the Year, Chloe Humphrey was the Attacker of the Year in women’s lacrosse and Sam Forrest was the Defender of the Year in women’s lacrosse.
ACC PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
• Tar Heels have won 215 ACC Player/Performer-of-the-Year awards (97 men/118 women). Field hockey leads with 25 awards. Women’s soccer is next with 18 and men’s basketball (16), men’s lacrosse (14), women’s swimming and diving (13), women’s indoor track and field (13), baseball (12), women’s lacrosse (11) and women’s tennis (11) have won 10 or more.
• ACC honorees in 2024-25 include Jake Knapp (baseball’s pitcher of the year), Eli Lippman (men’s fencing epee), Ryleigh Heck (field hockey’s offensive player of the year), David Ford (men’s golf), Reese Brantmeier (women’s tennis), Ethan Strand (men’s track and field’s indoor and outdoor) and Makayla Paige (women’s indoor track and field).
• In 2024, Parker Wolfe, the NCAA champion in the 5,000 meters, became the first athlete in ACC history to sweep Athlete-of-the-Year honors for men’s cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in the same year.
• In 2022, field hockey’s Erin Matson became the first five-time Player of the Year in ACC history. She was the ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
• Women’s track sprinter/hurdler LaTasha Colander won four awards. She was the ACC Indoor Performer of the Year in 1995, 1997 and 1998 and the Outdoor Performer of the Year in 1997.
• Eight others have won ACC Player/Performer of the Year three times. Tennis player David Caldwell (1994, 1995 and 1996) and cross country/track and field’s Parker Wolfe are the only male athletes to win three times.
• Women’s soccer’s Mia Hamm (1990, 1991, 1992), tennis’s Cinda Gurney (1991, 1992, 1993), softball’s Danielle Spaulding (2008, 2009, 2010), soccer’s Crystal Dunn (defense in 2010 and 2012, offense in 2013), field hockey’s Caitlin Van Sickle (defense in 2010, 2011, 2012) and women’s diver Aranza Vázquez Montaño (2022, 2023 and 2024) also won three times.
• Larry Miller (1967, 1968) is the only men’s basketball player to win multiple times. Football tailbacks Don McCauley (1969, 1970) and Mike Voight (1975, 1976) won twice.
NATIONAL COACHES OF THE YEAR
• Twenty (20) UNC head coaches have won National Coach-of-the-Year awards, including current head coaches Joe Breschi (men’s lacrosse), Hubert Davis (men’s basketball), Brian Kalbas (women’s tennis), Jenny Levy (women’s lacrosse), Sam Paul (men’s tennis) and Carlos Somoano (men’s soccer).
• Jenny Levy was the National Coach of the Year in 2025 after directing the Tar Heels to a 22-0 record and fourth NCAA championship. Levy has won the award in 2013, 2016, 2022 and 2025.
• Former field hockey head coach Karen Shelton was a nine-time recipient, including four of her last five seasons.
• Anson Dorrance won six times as the women’s soccer team’s head coach and won the men’s NCOY award in 1987, when he led the Tar Heels to the Final Four.
• Levy (four times), Dean Smith (four times, men’s basketball), Roy Williams (four times, men’s basketball), Sylvia Hatchell (three times, women’s basketball), Levy (three times) and Ron Miller (twice, fencing) also won NCOY honors in multiple seasons.
• Each of the last six men’s basketball coaches has won a National Coach of the Year award while at Carolina, including Frank McGuire, Smith, Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Williams and Davis.
HEAD COACHES
• Seven current UNC head coaches have won national championships at Carolina – Joe Breschi (one in men’s lacrosse), Brian Kalbas (one NCAA title and seven ITA Indoor Championships in women’s tennis), Jenny Levy (four in women’s lacrosse), Erin Matson (one in field hockey), Damon Nahas (one in women’s soccer), Sam Paul (two ITA Indoor Championships in men’s tennis) and Carlos Somoano (one in men’s soccer).
• Anson Dorrance retired before the 2024 season after 45 years as the only head coach in UNC women’s soccer history. That was the second-longest head coaching tenure in Carolina history, trailing only Ron Miller, who coached fencing for 52 years.
• The 2025-26 season is Sam Paul’s 33rd with men’s tennis and Jenny Levy’s 31st with women’s lacrosse. Brian Kalbas (women’s tennis) is in his 23rd season.
• Seven of Carolina’s current head coaches competed as student-athletes for the Tar Heels and 11 were assistant coaches in Chapel Hill at some point in their careers before being named UNC’s head coach.
• Rob Koll (wrestling) Erin Matson (field hockey) and Erin Neppel (rowing) competed at UNC.
• Hubert Davis (men’s basketball), Matt Jednak (men’s and women’s fencing), Joe Breschi (men’s lacrosse) and Megan Smith Lyon (softball) were both student-athletes and assistant coaches at UNC before becoming the head coach at Carolina.
• Andrew DiBitetto (men’s golf), Scott Forbes (baseball), Aimee Neff (women’s golf), Carlos Somoano (men’s soccer), Sam Paul (men’s tennis), Mike Schall (volleyball) and Damon Nahas (women’s soccer) were assistant coaches at Carolina.
• Several current and former head coaches are among the winningest in their respective sports’ histories:
- Anson Dorrance and Karen Shelton are the winningest coaches in women’s soccer and field hockey history, respectively. Dorrance won 934 games, while Shelton retired after winning the 2022 national championship with 745 wins in 42 seasons.
- Roy Williams and Dean Smith rank No. 3 and No. 5 all-time in men’s basketball wins by Division I coaches. Williams is the only coach in NCAA history to win 400 games at two schools; Smith set the all-time wins record, a record (since broken) that was established 25 years earlier by Adolph Rupp.
- Dennis Craddock coached the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams to 45 ACC team titles, the most in ACC history for any coach in any sport.
- Frank Comfort led the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs for 30 seasons (1977-2007) and won 26 ACC championships.
- Mike Fox led the baseball team to seven College World Series appearances, including four in a row from 2006-09, and is seventh all-time in wins.
- Women’s basketball’s Sylvia Hatchell is No. 5 in wins and won the 1994 national championship.
- Brian Kalbas, the women’s tennis coach, led the Tar Heels to the 2023 NCAA championship. Kalbas is a three-time ITA National Coach of the Year (2010 and 2022 with UNC) and six-time ACC Coach of the Year, has the highest winning percentage in ACC history and is one of only four Division I women’s tennis coaches to compile 700 career victories. Kalbas enters the 2025-26 season with 797 wins. He is the winningest active coach in the country and No. 3 all-time.
- Bill Lam coached wrestling for 30 seasons (1973-2003). Lam leads the ACC in all-time wins (378) and ACC championships (15). He coached five NCAA champions.
- Jenny Levy enters 2026 second in women’s lacrosse history with 443 wins. Levy, the only head coach in the program’s history, has led the Tar Heels to four NCAA championships and eight ACC Tournament titles in 30 seasons.
- Matson (field hockey) and Nahas (women’s soccer) are among four individuals who won national championships in their first season as a head coach, joining Dave Klarmann (men’s lacrosse) in 1991 and Carlos Somoano (men’s soccer) in 2011. Hubert Davis (men’s basketball) also led his team to the national championship game in his first season as a head coach in 2022.
- At 23 years old, Matson became the youngest head coach in ACC history to win an NCAA title (unofficially the second-youngest in college athletics history).
- Nahas became the second rookie head coach in women’s soccer history to win an NCAA title.
- Joe Sagula retired following the 2022 volleyball season with 662 wins at UNC, 198 more than any other coach in ACC history.
- Men’s lacrosse’s Willie Scroggs piloted the Tar Heels to three NCAA championships in 1981, 1982 and 1986. He was UNC’s first coach to win multiple NCAA titles. The 1981 championship was Carolina’s first in any sport since the 1957 men’s basketball team’s undefeated season.
- Don Skakle coached the men’s tennis team to a record 18 ACC championships from 1959-80. Skakle was elected to the North
- Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.
OLYMPIANS
• Including the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, 115 current or former Tar Heel student-athletes competed in the Olympic Games or Paralympics (a total of 161 times). That includes 28 track and field athletes, 25 women's soccer players, 16 field hockey players, 15 swimmers/divers and 14 men's basketball players. It also includes student-athletes such as men’s basketball player Al Wood and swimmer Sue Walsh, who were selected to the U.S. team in 1980 but were denied the opportunity to compete due to a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games.
• Additionally, several UNC coaches and coached in the Olympics, including Dean Smith, Roy Williams, Larry Brown and Bill Guthridge (men’s basketball) and Sylvia Hatchell (women’s basketball). Smith led the USA to gold in Montreal in 1976 as head coach.
• Tar Heels have represented 18 different countries in the Olympics, including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Turkey and Zambia.
• Three Tar Heels – distance runner Shalane Flanagan (USA), women’s soccer’s Tobin Heath (USA) and track and field thrower Vikas Gowda (India) – competed in four Summer Olympics.
• Crystal Dunn (women’s soccer) played in her third Olympics in the 2024 Games in Paris.
• Carolina’s first Olympian was Harry Williamson (track and field) in 1936.
• Floyd “Chunk” Simmons won the first Olympic medal by a Tar Heel when he won the bronze in the decathlon at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Games.
• Heather O’Reilly won three Olympic gold medals in women’s soccer. In 2017, she joined swimmer Sue Walsh as the second Tar Heel student-athlete inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
• Thirteen (13) Tar Heels competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics, including gold medalists Crystal Dunn and Emily Fox (women’s soccer, USA) and silver medalist Kristen Siermachesky (rowing, Canada).
Also, Ashley Hoffman and Meredith Sholder (field hockey, USA); Ricky Hijikata (men’s tennis, Australia); Katie Bowen (women’s soccer, New Zealand); Patrick Hussey (diving, Canada); Aranza Vazquez (diving, Mexico); Mia Phiri (swimming, Zambia); Ethan Ramos (wrestling, Puerto Rico); Martin Kartavi and Adam Maraana (swimming, Israel); Cassie Sumfest was an alternate for the U.S. field hockey team.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA OLYMPIC MEDALISTS
Men’s Swimming
Thompson Mann: gold, 1964, 4x100 medley relay
Women’s Swimming
Wendy Weinberg: bronze, 1976, 800-meter freestyle
Mia Hamm: gold, 1996; silver, 2000; gold, 2004
Kristine Lilly: gold, 1996; silver, 2000; gold, 2004
Carla (Werden) Overbeck: gold, 1996; silver, 2000
Tisha Venturini: gold, 1996
Staci Wilson: gold, 1996
Cindy Parlow: gold, 1996; silver, 2000; gold, 2004
Tiffany Roberts: gold, 1996
Siri Mullinix: silver, 2000
Lorrie Fair: silver, 2000
Heather O’Reilly: gold, 2004; gold, 2008; gold, 2012
Cat Whitehill: gold, 2004
Lindsay Tarpley: gold, 2004; gold, 2008
Lori Chalupny: gold, 2008
Tobin Heath: gold, 2008; gold, 2012; bronze, 2020
Robyn Gayle: bronze, 2012
Crystal Dunn: bronze, 2020; gold, 2024
Emily Fox: gold, 2024
Men's Basketball
Larry Brown: 1964, gold
Charlie Scott: 1968, gold
Bobby Jones: 1972, silver
Phil Ford: 1976 gold
Mitch Kupchak: 1976, gold
Walter Davis: 1976, gold
Tommy LaGarde: 1976, gold
Michael Jordan: 1984, gold; 1992, gold
Sam Perkins: 1984, gold
J.R. Reid: 1988, bronze
Vince Carter: 2000, gold
Harrison Barnes: 2016, gold
Track and Field (Athletics)
Harry Williamson: 1936, bronze, 800 meters
Floyd "Chunk" Simmons: 1948, bronze, decathlon; 1952, bronze, decathlon
Allen Johnson: 1996, gold, 110-meter hurdles
LaTasha Colander-Richardson: 2000, gold, 4x400
Monique Hennagan: 2000, gold, 4x400; 2004, gold, 4x400
Shalane Flanagan: 2008, silver, 10,000 meters
Paratriathlon
Carson Clough: 2024 silver
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAS
• Heather O’Reilly (women’s soccer) and Sue Walsh (women’s swimming) are members of the Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
• Tar Heel student-athletes have earned 131 Academic All-Americas honors, including 57 first-team selections.
• In 2024-25, women’s tennis players Reese Brantmeier and Carson Tanguilig and men’s cross country/track and field’s Colton Sands were first-team honorees. Makayla Paige (women’s track and field’s) and Ashley Humphrey (women’s lacrosse) were second-team and Sam Williams (men’s soccer) made the third team.
• Laura Gerraughty, a four-time NCAA track and field champion in throwing events, is UNC’s only three-time, first-team Academic All-America. The biology major won NCAA titles in 2003 (outdoor shot put), 2004 (indoor and outdoor shot put) and 2006 (outdoor shot put), was a 10-time All-America, won 13 Atlantic Coast Conference individual event championships and was a member of the 2004 United States Olympic Team.
• Michael Bucy (men’s soccer), Hayley Carter (women’s tennis), Jonathan Campbell (men’s soccer), Kristi Eveland (women’s soccer), Christine Kubin (softball) and Tyler Zeller (men’s basketball) were two-time, first-team Academic All-Americas.
• Men’s basketball (10), women’s soccer (9) and men’s soccer (6) have produced the most first-team Academic All-Americas.
• Twenty-three (23) Tar Heels have earned first-team All-America honors both competitively and academically. The most recent to accomplish that were women’s tennis players Reese Brantmeier and Carson Tanguilig in 2025.
• Others to earn first-team All-America honors both competitively and academically include baseball’s Vance Honeycutt, men’s basketball’s Billy Cunningham, Charlie Scott, Eric Montross and Tyler Zeller, field hockey’s Rachel Dawson, men’s lacrosse’s Joey Seivold, women’s lacrosse’s Katie Hoeg, men’s soccer’s Jonathan Campbell, women’s soccer’s Cindy Parlow, Heather O’Reilly, Yael Averbuch and Amber Brooks, softball’s Christine Kubin, women’s track and field’s Laura Gerraughty and Georgia Kloss, women’s swimming’s Sue Walsh, Richelle Fox and Jessi Perruquet and women’s tennis’ Hayley Carter.
• Five Tar Heels have earned Academic All-America of the Year in their respective sports – Yael Averbuch (women’s soccer) in 2008-09, Scott Goodwin (men’s soccer) in 2012-13, Heather O’Reilly (women’s soccer) in 2006-07, Tyler Zeller (men’s basketball) in 2011-12 and Reese Brantmeier (women’s tennis) in 2024-25.
RANKED NO. 1
• A dozen Carolina teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation at some point in a season.
• Women’s soccer has been ranked No. 1 in 37 seasons, the most of any UNC program. Field hockey (31), men’s basketball (23), men’s lacrosse (11), women’s lacrosse (11), women’s tennis (10), men’s soccer (8), baseball (6), men’s golf (2), men’s tennis (2) and football (1) have all been ranked No. 1 at some point in a season.
• In 2024-25, baseball, field hockey, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer were ranked No. 1. The latter three teams were ranked No. 1 in their respective end-of-season polls.
PROFESSIONAL DRAFT PICKS
• Beginning with Andy Bershak in the third round of the 1938 NFL Draft, nearly 800 Tar Heels have been selected in professional drafts in their respective sports.
• Football (257), baseball (232) and men’s basketball (121) players have been selected the most times.
• Lennie Rosenbluth, who led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title, was the first Tar Heel selected in the first round of a professional draft. The Philadelphia Warriors chose Rosenbluth in the first round of the 1957 NBA Draft.
• Rosenbluth is one of 172 selections in the first round, supplemental first rounds or allocation drafts over eight different sports.
• In 2024-25, four Tar Heels were chosen in the first round in their respective sports: Men’s soccer’s Tate Johnson by Vancouver, football’s Omarion Hampton by the Los Angeles Chargers, men’s basketball’s Drake Powell by Atlanta (for Brooklyn) and baseball’s Luke Stevenson by Seattle.
• Carolina players have been selected in the first round of the NBA Draft 55 times, third most all-time, and 121 players who competed for the Tar Heels have been chosen in the Draft, also third most in NBA history.
• James Worthy (1982, Los Angeles Lakers) and Brad Daugherty (1986, Cleveland) were the No. 1 overall picks in the NBA Draft. They are among the 19 Tar Heels selected in the top five, including Michael Jordan, who Chicago drafted at No. 3 in the 1984 Draft.
• The New England Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with the No. 3 pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Maye was the 25th UNC football player chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft. Linebacker Lawrence Taylor (1981), defensive end Julius Peppers (2002), two of the NFL’s all-time defensive stars, and quarterback Mitch Trubisky (2017) were each selected No. 2, the highest picks by a Tar Heel.
• Tar Heels were first-round picks in the NFL Draft in consecutive seasons (2024 and 2025 Drafts) for the first time since a four-year stretch from 2011-14.
• In addition to 55 men’s basketball players and 26 football players, other first-round draft totals include women’s soccer (29), baseball (26), men’s soccer (20), women’s basketball (9), women’s lacrosse (4) and men’s lacrosse (3).
• Dave Lemonds (1968) and B.J. Surhoff (1985) were the first players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, and Chris Carrieri was the first overall selection in the 2001 Major League Soccer Draft.
• Carolina women’s soccer has produced three overall No. 1 selections since 2010, in addition to 14 players who were chosen off the United States Women’s National Team in allocation drafts at the start of the WUSA in 2000 and the WPS in 2008. Tobin Heath was the overall No. 1 in the 2010 WPS Draft, Crystal Dunn was the top pick in the 2014 NWSL Draft and Emily Fox was the first selection in the 2021 NWSL Draft. In 2025, the NWSL abolished the women’s soccer draft. Instead, several players on the 2024 national championship team signed with NWSL teams.
PROGRAM NOTES
• Carolina men's basketball has played in the NCAA Final Four more times (21) and won more NCAA Tournament games (134) than any other program in the nation. The Tar Heels are second all-time in overall winning percentage (.733) and third in wins (2,395), second in NCAA Tournament history in appearances (54) and third in NCAA championships (6).
• Hubert Davis became the first Black head coach in Carolina men’s basketball history and the fourth former Tar Heel player to lead the program. He led UNC to its NCAA-record 21st Final Four in 2022. UNC advanced to the Final Four as a No. 8 seed for the second time, eliminating a defending national champion (Baylor) for the first time and beating Duke in the national semifinals, the first time UNC and Duke have ever played in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
• Carolina men's basketball has produced 13 National Players of the Year, including Phil Ford, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Antawn Jamison, Sean May and Tyler Hansbrough. Fourteen former Tar Heel players and coaches have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, including Vince Carter and Walter Davis, both members of the Class of 2024. UNC has more players in the Hall of Fame than any other college program, and Dean Smith coached more players who were inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame than any other head coach.
• ESPN selected Michael Jordan as the Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century. Jordan edged out Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali for the honor. Jordan hit the game-winning shot for the Tar Heels vs. Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA championship game and was National Player of the Year in 1983 and 1984. He went on to win six NBA championships, six NBA Finals MVPs and five regular-season MVP awards with the Chicago Bulls and has the highest scoring average in NBA history.
• Dean Smith retired in 1997 as the winningest basketball coach in Division I history (879 wins). Smith led Carolina to two NCAA championships, 11 Final Fours, 13 ACC Tournament titles, 30 20-win seasons, 17 ACC first-place finishes and 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and graduated more than 95 percent of his lettermen. He also led the United States to an Olympic gold medal in 1976.
• Roy Williams, also a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, led his alma mater to three national championships, nine ACC regular-season titles and three ACC Tournament titles. He retired with 903 wins, the third-most Division I wins by a coach in NCAA history behind only Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim. He reached 900 wins in fewer seasons and in the second-fewest games in NCAA history. He compiled the sixth-best winning percentage in the history of college basketball and was the Coach of the Decade for the 2000s.
• Carolina won its first NCAA men’s basketball championship in 1957 with a perfect 32-0 record. Led by National Player of the Year Lennie Rosenbluth, the Tar Heels share the NCAA record with the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers for most wins in a season without a defeat. Rosenbluth was elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, the 14th Tar Heel enshrined in Kansas City.
• Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice is one of the most famous UNC football players, leading Carolina to post-World War II appearances in the Sugar and Cotton Bowls. He won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player in 1948 and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1948 and 1949. The 22-yard lines at Kenan Stadium are painted Carolina Blue to honor Justice.
• Carolina field hockey has played in 28 Final Fours, including 15 of the last 16 seasons.
• Lawrence Taylor, the 1980 ACC Player of the Year, revolutionized the way linebacker is played in the NFL. The New York Giant was an eight-time first-team All-Pro, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion and 1986 NFL Most Valuable Player. Taylor is widely recognized as one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history.
• Defensive end Julius Peppers won the Lombardi Award as best lineman and the Bednarik Award as the best defensive player in 2001 as a Tar Heel and played a key role at power forward in Carolina men’s basketball’s run to the Final Four in 2000. He joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024, was a nine-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro, member of the NFL’s All-Decade teams of the 2000s and 2010s and finished his NFL career fourth in quarterback sacks. Peppers also played two seasons (1999-2001) on the men’s basketball team and played a key role in the 2000 team winning the NCAA South Regional and advancing to the Final Four.
• Six Tar Heel players and three UNC coaches are inducted in the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame. Harris Barton, who went on to a Super Bowl-winning career with the San Francisco 49ers, was the most recent inductee in 2021.
• Carolina football has played in 40 bowl games, won five ACC titles (1963, 1971, 1972, 1977 and 1980) and finished in the Associated Press Top 10 seven times. The Tar Heels played in the Orange Bowl for the first time following the 2021 season, its first major bowl appearance since 1950.
• The New England Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with the third pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Maye threw 78 touchdowns and had the two highest single-season total offense totals in UNC history in 2022 and 2023. His father, Mark, was a record-setting Tar Heel quarterback in the mid-1980s and his brother, Luke, hit the game-winning shot to beat Kentucky in the 2017 NCAA South Regional.
• Maye is one of six Tar Heels chosen in the top three picks in an NFL Draft with RB Ken Willard (No. 2 in 1965), OG Ken Huff (No. 3 in 1975), OLB Lawrence Taylor (No. 2 in 1981), Julius Peppers (No. 2 in 2002) and QB Mitch Trubisky (No. 2 in 2017).
• Omarion Hampton rushed for 30 touchdowns and more than 3,000 yards in 2023 and 2024, earning first-team All-America honors in both seasons. He was the first Tar Heel running back to make first-team All-America in consecutive seasons since Charlie Justice in 1948-49.
• Carolina became the first ACC school to play in the College World Series in four consecutive years (2006-07-08-09). The Tar Heels have made 12 CWS appearances, including 2024, when head coach Scott Forbes led the Tar Heels to an ACC regular-season championship and the No. 4 ranking in the final polls. In 2025, the Diamond Heels won their ninth ACC Tournament championship.
• Prominent baseball alumni include the 1984 No. 1 overall draft pick B.J. Surhoff, 1988 American League Rookie of the Year Walt Weiss, two-time all-star, Brian Roberts, Seattle Mariner All-Star Kyle Seager, and 2016 A.L. Championship Series MVP Andrew Miller.
• Miller, who earned a save in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game, is one of five Tar Heel baseball players to win National Player or Pitcher-of-the-Year honors – Dave Lemonds in 1968, Surhoff in 1985, Miller in 2006, Dustin Ackley in 2009 and Jake Knapp in 2025. Ackley set the all-time College World Series record for most base hits. Knapp returned from Tommy John surgery to win all 14 of his decisions, including starts in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
• Carolina is one of two colleges whose alumni have been starting pitchers multiple times in the Major League Baseball All-Star games in the 2000s. Matt Harvey of the New York Mets started the 2013 All-Star game and Zac Gallen of the Arizona Diamondbacks started in 2023.
• Carolina players and coaches have won Sports Illustrated's Sportsman-of-the-Year award three times, including Michael Jordan in 1991, Dean Smith in 1997 and the United States Women's Soccer Team in 1999. The U.S. team featured eight Tar Heels among the 20 players (Lorrie Fair, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Tracy Noonan, Carla Overbeck, Cindy Parlow, Tiffany Roberts and Tisha Venturini).
• Carolina has won 22 of the 43 NCAA championships in women’s soccer history and played in the Final Four 32 times. UNC also won the AIAW national championship in 1981, the final season before the NCAA began oversight of women’s athletics.
• Through the 2024 season, women’s soccer has been ranked for 525 consecutive weeks dating back to the first Intercollegiate Soccer Coaches Association poll released on Sept. 12, 1983.
• Fourteen (14) women’s soccer players have combined to win 21 gold medals in the Olympics (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2024). The United States has also won four World Cups (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019) with 28 Tar Heels on those rosters.
• Mia Hamm set the NCAA women’s soccer scoring record with 278 points, was the National Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993, led UNC to four national championships and became an international sports icon. Hamm was selected ESPN’s No. 1 Athlete of the Title IX era, the Greatest Female Athlete of the First 50 Years of the ACC and one of the three top female soccer players in the 20th century by FIFA. Hamm was FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002, U.S. Soccer’s Female Athlete of the Year from 1994-98 and held the all-time FIFA goals record for men and women from 2004-13. She finished her international career as the world’s all-time leading scorer in women’s soccer history.
• Kristine Lilly, who led UNC to four national championships in 1989-92, played in 354 international games for the United States Women’s National Team, more than any other player in U.S. history. Lilly, second in USWNT history in assists (106) and fourth in goals (130), is one of five Tar Heels who have captained the USWNT (Emily Pickering, Lori Henry, April Heinrichs, Carla Werden Overbeck and Lilly).
• Hamm is still the USWNT’s all-time leader in points (305) and assists (147) and is second in goals with 158. Lilly ranks second in assists (106), third in points (236) and fourth in goals (130).
• Cindy Parlow Cone, who won three National Player-of-the-Year awards at Carolina, is president of the United States Soccer Federation.
• Tar Heel alums Sabrina Wiegman (manager), Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy led England to the 2022 and 2025 European women’s championships.
• Carolina women’s soccer twice compiled unbeaten streaks of 100 or more games. The Tar Heels went 103 games without a loss from 1986 to 1990. Following a loss, Carolina then embarked on a 101-game unbeaten streak that stretched from 1990 to 1994. The 101-game unbeaten streak included a 92-game winning streak. The 1990 streak was snapped by Connecticut, which Carolina beat 6-0 later that season in the NCAA final. The 92-game win streak was ended by Duke, which UNC went on to defeat in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, and the 101-game unbeaten streak was snapped by Notre Dame, which the Tar Heels beat in the 1994 national championship game.
• Men's track hurdler Allen Johnson won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, one year after he set the world record in the 110-meter hurdles. Johnson competed at UNC in the early 1990s and later returned to UNC to earn his degree in 2012.
• Monique Hennagan won gold on the U.S. 4x400 relay in 1996 and 2004. She was joined on the 1996 gold medal relay by her former UNC teammate, LaTasha Colander.
• Track distance star Jim Beatty became the first person to break the 4-minute mark in the indoor mile. Beatty set the mark and established a world record in 1962. That same year, Beatty won the James E. Sullivan Award and was ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. He was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1990.
• Track’s Tony Waldrop set a world record in the indoor mile while competing for UNC in the early 1970s and ran off a string of 11 consecutive sub-four-minute miles. Waldrop later served for a decade as UNC’s vice chancellor for research.
• Track's Reggie McAfee became the first African-American to break the 4-minute mile when he ran 3:59.3 at the Big Four Meet in Raleigh in 1973.
• In 2024, Parker Wolfe, an NCAA champion in the outdoor 5,000 meters, became the first athlete to sweep ACC Male Athlete-of-the-Year honors for cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in the same academic year.
• In 2025, Ethan Strand became the first NCAA track athlete to break the collegiate records in the indoor mile and 3,000 meters in the same season. Strand was the NCAA champion in the indoor 3,000m, the National Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, finished second in the NCAA outdoor 1,500 and finished second in the U.S. Championships in the 1,500. He and Madison Wiltrout (women’s javelin) qualified for the 2025 World Championships.
• Swimmer Thompson Mann won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo on the 4x100 medley relay. He was the first person to ever swim the 100-meters backstroke in under one minute.
• Men's golfer Davis Love III won the 1997 PGA Championship, 19 other PGA events, played on six Ryder Cup teams and captained the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup teams and 2022 Presidents Cup team.
• David Ford, Austin Greaser and Dylan Menante were members of the United States Walker Cup team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland in 2023 at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Ford provided the clinching point with a singles match win.
• David Ford became the first Tar Heel and second ACC player to win PGA TOUR University, a two-year accumulation of points from tournament finishes that earned him his PGA TOUR card for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
• Tar Heel alumni Ben Griffin and Ryan Gerard both won PGA TOUR events in 2025 and qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Griffin was sixth in points in the end-of-season standings.
• Carolina men's soccer has played in the College Cup nine times, winning NCAA championships in 2001 under Elmar Bolowich and again in 2011 under current head coach Carlos Somoano. UNC has the seventh-most men’s soccer College Cup appearances. Only Indiana, Saint Louis, Maryland, UCLA, Virginia and Clemson have played in more Final Fours.
• Men's soccer defensive standouts Gregg Berhalter and Eddie Pope played for the United States in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Pope played 11 years for Team USA and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Berhalter was the head coach of the United States Men’s National Team, leading the U.S. to a Gold Cup championship in 2021 and a berth in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
• In 2025, two Tar Heels softball alumni – Kat Rodriguez and Kristen Brown – were named to the Sports Illustrated All-Quarter-Century Team.
• UNC student-athletes have won the ACC Female Athlete of the Year Award (the Mary Garber Award) more times than any other school. Nine Tar Heels have won the award 10 times. Former ACC member Maryland is second with seven awards, followed by Duke with five, Virginia with four, Boston College and Notre Dame with three, Wake Forest two and NC State and Virginia Tech with one. Field hockey standouts Erin Matson and Ashley Hoffman won the Garber Award in 20129 and 2020, joining women’s soccer players Shannon Higgins, Mia Hamm (two-time winner), Tisha Venturini, Cindy Parlow, Casey Nogueira, Whitney Engen and Crystal Dunn as Tar Heel winners of the award.
• Vic Seixas was a standout tennis player at Carolina in the late 1940s. He went on to win singles titles in the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. He set the record for the most Davis Cup matches by a U.S. player. He held that mark until Jimmy Connors broke it in the 1980s.
• Rinky Hijikata, who competed for the UNC men’s tennis team from 2019-21, played in the 2025 Wimbledon doubles finals. He won a major doubles championship in the 2023 Australian Open and represented Australia in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
• Women’s tennis has made seven NCAA Final Four appearances (all since 2010), including five of the last six seasons. The program has also won seven ITA Indoor National Team Championships (all since 2013), 13 ACC championships (including seven of the last nine).
