North Carolina Tar Heels

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North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina Tar Heels logo.svg
University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Conference Atlantic Coast Conference
NCAA Division I (FBS)
Athletic director Bubba Cunningham
Location Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Varsity teams27
Football stadium Kenan Memorial Stadium
Basketball arena Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center
Baseball stadium Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium
Soccer stadium Dorrance Field
Other arenas William D. Carmichael Jr. Arena
Mascot Rameses
NicknameTar Heels
Fight song I'm a Tar Heel Born
Here Comes Carolina
ColorsCarolina Blue and White [1]
         
Website goheels.com
Atlantic Coast Conference logo in North Carolina's colors ACC logo in North Carolina colors.svg
Atlantic Coast Conference logo in North Carolina's colors

The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State. The campus at Chapel Hill is referred to as the University of North Carolina for the purposes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was chartered in 1789, and in 1795 it became the first state-supported university in the United States. [2] Since the school fostered the oldest collegiate team in the Carolinas, the school took on the nickname "Carolina", especially in athletics. The Tar Heels are also referred to as North Carolina, UNC, or The Heels. [2] The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Tar Heels.

Contents

The mascot of the Tar Heels is Rameses, a Dorset Ram. It is represented as either a live Dorset sheep with its horns painted Carolina Blue, or as a costumed character performed by a volunteer from the student body, usually an undergraduate student associated with the cheerleading team. [3]

Carolina has won 45 NCAA Division I team national championships in seven different sports, eighth all-time, and 52 individual national championships.

Sports sponsored

Men's sportsWomen's sports
Baseball Basketball
Basketball Cross country
Cross countryFencing
Fencing Field hockey
Football Golf
GolfGymnastics
Lacrosse Lacrosse
Soccer Rowing
Swimming & diving Soccer
Tennis Softball
Track and field†Swimming & diving
WrestlingTennis
Track and field†
Volleyball
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor.

Baseball

North Carolina Tar Heels baseball UNCbaseball.JPG
North Carolina Tar Heels baseball

The baseball team has had recent success, reaching the championship series of the College World Series in 2006 and 2007 losing both times to Oregon State. They also appeared in the College World Series in 1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2018.

Men's basketball

2008 men's basketball players Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, and Deon Thompson Hansbrough Scoring Record.jpg
2008 men's basketball players Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, and Deon Thompson

Carolina has enjoyed long success as one of the top basketball programs in the country. Overall, the Tar Heels have won six NCAA National Championships and were retroactively awarded one for the 1923–24 season by the Helms Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. [4]

Under coach Frank McGuire, the team won its 1st NCAA championship in 1957. After McGuire left, legendary coach Dean Smith established the team as a powerhouse in college basketball. In 31 years at Carolina, Smith set the record for the most wins of any men's college basketball head coach, a record broken in 2007 by Bob Knight. Under Smith, the Tar Heels won two national championships and had numerous talented players come through the program. Smith is also credited with coming up with the four corners offense. More recently, the Tar Heels won the national championship in 2005, 2009, and 2017 under coach Roy Williams.

Women's basketball

Field hockey

2007 field hockey team with President George W. Bush UNC field hockey with Bush.jpg
2007 field hockey team with President George W. Bush

Football

2006 football team playing Virginia Tech 2006 Virginia Tech at UNC Glennon under center.jpg
2006 football team playing Virginia Tech

Men's lacrosse

Men's lacrosse in the 2009 ACC tournament final. UNC Lacrosse.jpg
Men's lacrosse in the 2009 ACC tournament final.

Women's lacrosse

Men's soccer

Women's soccer

Offensive Player of the Year Yael Averbuch Yael Averbuch with flag.jpg
Offensive Player of the Year Yael Averbuch
2006 women's soccer player Robyn Gayle Robyn Gayle - UNC Tar Heels.jpg
2006 women's soccer player Robyn Gayle

Women's tennis

Jamie Loeb attended UNC for her freshman and sophomore years (2013–15), during which she became the first freshman in close to 30 years to win both the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championship (making her the NCAA Women’s Singles Tennis National Champion) and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship. [5] She was also the first singles national champion in UNC women’s tennis history. [6] [7] [5] In both her freshman and her sophomore seasons she was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year. [8] [6]

Men's golf

The men's golf team has won 14 conference championships: [9]

Two Tar Heels have won the NCAA individual championship, Harvie Ward in 1949 and John Inman in 1984. Ward also won the British Amateur in 1952 and the U.S. Amateur in 1955 and 1956. The team's best finish was second place in 1953 and 1991.

Tar Heel golfers who have had success at the professional level include Davis Love III (20 PGA Tour wins including 1997 PGA Championship) and Mark Wilson (five PGA Tour wins).

Wrestling

Following Coach Sam Barnes who built the modern wrestling program at UNC (1953-1971), Head coach Bill Lam led the Tar Heel wrestling program for 30 years until his retirement in 2002, where his former wrestler and 1982 NCAA Champion C.D. Mock became his replacement. Under Lam, the Tar Heels were a consistent top 25 NCAA team. Lam led the Tar Heels to 15 ACC tournament titles in addition to being named ACC coach of the year 10 times. Following the Lam era, Mock was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006 in addition to claiming two ACC team titles. [10] In 2015, Mock was fired as head wrestling coach. He was shortly replaced by Olympic bronze medalist and Oklahoma State University graduate Coleman Scott.

The Tar Heel wrestling program boasts many ACC champions, All-Americans, and has 3 individual NCAA champions: C.D. Mock (1982), Rob Koll (1988), and T.J. Jaworsky (1993, 1994, 1995). Jaworsky is known as one of the greatest college wrestlers of all time as he is the first and only ACC wrestler to win three NCAA titles in addition to winning the inaugural Dan Hodge Trophy, given to college wrestling's most dominant wrestler. Koll is now the head coach at Cornell University where he has led the program to new heights with multiple top 10 NCAA finishes.

UNC wrestling All-Americans: C.D. Mock, Dave Cook, Jan Michaels, Bob Monaghan, Mike Elinsky, Rob Koll, Bobby Shriner, Tad Wilson, Al Palacio, Lenny Bernstein, Doug Wyland, Enzo Catullo, Pete Welch, Shane Camera, Jody Staylor, Marc Taylor, Stan Banks, Justin Harty, Evan Sola, Chris Rodrigues, Evan Henderson, Ethan Ramos, and Joey Ward.

Other notable alumni include C.C. Fisher, 1998 ACC champion and Most Outstanding wrestler, who went on to become a successful wrestler on the international stage where he was as high as second on the United States Olympic latter. Fisher also went on to become a successful coach for multiple Division 1 wrestling programs including Iowa State and Stanford.

The late Sen. Paul Wellstone attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on a wrestling scholarship. In college he was an undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference wrestling champion.

The Tar Heel wrestling program has won 17 total ACC championships: 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006

UNC's best finish at the NCAA tournament was 5th in 1982. [11] They also took 6th in 1995.

Carmichael Arena is currently the home to the Tar Heels Wrestling team located centrally on campus. [12]

Women's Rowing

Head Coaches - Thomas Revelle, Emilie Gross

Founded 1997/98 season

Other sports

2005 men's soccer team playing SMU Fetzer Field.jpg
2005 men's soccer team playing SMU

Other national championship victories include the women's team handball team in 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011; and the men's handball team in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The men's crew won the 2004 ECAC National Invitational Collegiate Regatta in the varsity eight category. In 1994, Carolina's athletic programs won the Sears Directors Cup which is awarded for cumulative performance in NCAA competition.

Rugby

Carolina also fields non varsity sports teams. North Carolina's rugby team competes in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League against its traditional ACC rivals. North Carolina finished second in its conference in 2010, led by conference co-player of the year Alex Lee. North Carolina finished second at the Atlantic Coast Invitational in 2009 and again in 2010. North Carolina has also competed in the Collegiate Rugby Championship, finishing 11th in 2011 in a tournament broadcast live on NBC. [13]

Championships

NCAA team championships

North Carolina has won 45 NCAA team national championships. [14]

Other national team championships

Below are 13 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA:

(*) Pre-NCAA tournament championship (Helms Foundation and Premo-Porretta Power Poll, retroactively selected)
(**) There was only one AIAW soccer tournament, thus making North Carolina the only women's soccer team to win an AIAW championship
(***) ITA National Team Indoor Championships

Rivalries

Carolina's most heated rivalries are with its Tobacco Road counterparts Duke, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest. In recent years, the Carolina-Duke basketball series has attracted the most attention. HBO even made a documentary in 2009 called "Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina". [15] The Tar Heels also have a rivalry with Virginia in college football, known as the South's Oldest Rivalry. UNC and UVA are the two oldest schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

North Carolina Cheer

I'm a Tar Heel Born

Carolina's main fight song is I'm a Tar Heel Born. Its lyrics appear in the 1907 edition of the university's yearbook, the "Yackety Yack," although how long it existed before that is not known. [16] Some say that it was in the late 1920s that it began to be sung as an add-on (or "tag") to the school's alma mater, "Hark The Sound", although the current version of the sheet music for "Hark the Sound" includes the "I'm a Tar Heel Born" tag as an integral part of the alma mater and credits the full song to William Starr Myers with a date of 1897. [17] Today, the song is almost always played immediately after the singing of "Hark The Sound", even during more formal occasions such as convocation and commencement. Just before home football and basketball games, the song is played by the Bell Tower near the center of campus, and is often played after major victories. [18]

As it appears in its 1907 printed form, the final words of the song are "Rah, rah, rah!" Starting in the 1960s, however, "Rah, rah, rah!" was "unofficially" replaced with "Go to hell, State!"; NC State was UNC's main athletic rival for much of the first half of the 20th century. From the late 1980s onward, the "unofficial" final lyrics have been "Go to hell, Duke!"; reflecting Duke eclipsing State as Carolina's main rival.

Simply known as "Tag" by many Marching Tar Heel alumni, and titled as such on some recorded albums, "I'm a Tar Heel Born" has been adopted by at least three other colleges for their use, including the University of Rhode Island, the University of Richmond, and Brown University (see ).

Here Comes Carolina

Another popular song is Here Comes Carolina.

As its title implies, it is most commonly played when a Tar Heel team enters the field of play. Traditionally, the band plays a version of the traditional orchestral warmup tune before launching into the song when the first player charges out of the tunnel. During the warmup tune, fans stand and clap along. The effect is similar to that of a train coming down the track.

For many years at basketball games, the band played the first seven notes of the song in different keys during player introductions, modulating a half step each time before launching into the song in the normal key after the final player was announced.

The last part of the song's melody come from an old revival song, "Jesus Loves the Little Children".

Notable alumni

Notable graduates from the athletic programs include Michael Jordan from men's basketball, Mia Hamm from women's soccer, Charlie Justice from American football, Davis Love III from golf, B.J. Surhoff from baseball and Marion Jones from women's basketball and track & field.

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Roy Williams (basketball coach) American basketball player and coach

Roy Allen Williams is an American college basketball coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He started his college coaching career at North Carolina as an assistant coach for Dean Smith in 1978. In 1988, Williams became the head coach of the men's basketball team at Kansas, taking them to 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments, four final four appearances, two national championship game appearances, collecting a .805 win percentage and winning nine conference titles over his fifteen-year span.

Souths Oldest Rivalry College football rivalry game

The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the North Carolina Tar Heels football team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both have been members of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1953, but the Cavaliers and Tar Heels have squared off at least fifteen more times than any other two ACC football programs. Virginia and North Carolina also have extensive rivalries in several other sports.

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NC State Wolfpack

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North Carolina Tar Heels football College Football Bowl Subdivision team; member of Atlantic Coast Conference

The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football. The Tar Heels play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

North Carolina Tar Heels mens basketball

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won seven men's basketball national championships. North Carolina's six NCAA Tournament Championships are third-most all-time, behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8). UNC has also won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament titles, 32 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles, and an Atlantic Coast Conference record 21 outright regular season championships. The program has produced many notable players who went on to play in the NBA, including four of ESPN's top 74 players of all-time: Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Vince Carter, and Bob McAdoo. Many Tar Heel assistant coaches and players have gone on to become head coaches elsewhere.

North Carolina Tar Heels womens soccer

The North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I soccer. The team has won 23 of the 27 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, and 21 of the 38 NCAA national championships.

2009–10 North Carolina Tar Heels mens basketball team American college basketball season

The 2009–10 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their head coach was Roy Williams. The team played its home games in the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They were the defending National Champions. This season represented the 100th season of basketball in the school's history.

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's lacrosse team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's lacrosse. North Carolina currently competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and plays its home games at Fetzer Field and Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their main rivalry series is with fellow ACC member Duke.

2011–12 North Carolina Tar Heels mens basketball team American college basketball season

The 2011–12 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 2011–2012 college basketball season. The team's head coach is Roy Williams, who is in his 9th season as UNC's head men's basketball coach. The 2011–12 North Carolina team finished the regular season with a final record of 32–6, and with a 14–2 record in ACC regular season play, winning the conference regular season championship outright. They were invited to the 2012 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, where they beat Maryland and North Carolina State before falling to Florida State in the championship game. They were also invited to the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament reaching the Elite Eight where they were defeated by Kansas. This was the second time UNC lost to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament with Roy Williams as UNC head coach. Roy Williams previously coached Kansas from 1988–2003. Kansas later fell to Kentucky 59-67 in the National Championship Game. The Tar Heels won their previous three games in the NCAA Tournament by an average of 13.7 points. In the second-round game versus Creighton, starting UNC point guard Kendall Marshall broke his right wrist with 10:56 remaining in the second half. Kendall Marshall did not play in UNC's two following games in the NCAA Tournament, a 73-65 overtime win over Ohio in the Sweet 16 and a 67-80 loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. The loss to Kansas was UNC's second straight loss in the Elite Eight, after losing to Kentucky the year before.

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2015–16 North Carolina Tar Heels mens basketball team American college basketball season

The 2015–16 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Roy Williams, who was in his 13th season as UNC's men's basketball head coach. The Tar Heels played their home games at the Dean Smith Center and were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina finished the season with a 33–7 record, 14–4 to win the ACC regular season championship. The Tar Heels defeated Virginia to win the ACC Tournament. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as a #1 seed. There, they defeated Florida Gulf Coast, Providence, Indiana, and Notre Dame to earn a trip to the Final Four, the school's 19th trip to the Final Four. In a matchup against fellow ACC foe, Syracuse, the Tar Heels won easily to advance to the National Championship against Villanova. North Carolina, despite a circus shot by Marcus Paige to tie the game at 74 with less than five seconds remaining, lost on a last second three pointer by Kris Jenkins.

2017–18 North Carolina Tar Heels mens basketball team American college basketball season

The 2017–18 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Roy Williams, who was in his 15th season as UNC's head men's basketball coach. The Tar Heels played their home games at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 26–11, 11–7 in ACC play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place. As the No. 6 seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Syracuse, Miami, and Duke before losing to Virginia in the championship game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West region where they defeated Lipscomb before losing to Texas A&M in the Second Round.

The 1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The 2019–20 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Tar Heels, led by first year head coach Courtney Banghart, played their games at Carmichael Arena and were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Duke–North Carolina lacrosse rivalry

The Duke–North Carolina lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Located just 9.8 miles apart on Tobacco Road, the two programs are classic rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference, headlined by their basketball and football rivalries, but also extending to lacrosse - even club lacrosse. The rivalry has carried national importance itself since the 1990s, leading to numerous thrilling contests between the two in the ACC and NCAA postseason tournaments. Duke leads the ACC series 9–4 and has compiled a perfect 4–0 mark against the heels in NCAA tournament play. Current Heels coach Joe Breschi summed up the rivalry as "when you’re 12 miles away from a school that you don’t like and doesn’t like you, it makes it more intense. There’s so much more meaning there than any other game. That’s what makes winning that much more sweet." In 2019, his counterpart Duke head coach John Danowski described the annual challenge of facing UNC: "They're really good. They're very well-coached, they get the best players in the country year after year, they have the top recruiting classes, and they hate Duke." As a testament to the national success between the two schools, the Blue Devils have won three national titles, while the Tar Heels lay claim to five. As of 2020, North Carolina leads the series 42–33.

References

  1. ↑ Carolina Athletics Brand Identity Guidelines (PDF). April 20, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  2. 1 2 The Editors (October 24, 1945). "University of North Carolina | university system, North Carolina, United States". Britannica.com. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Ram as Mascot". GoHeels.com. July 15, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  4. ↑ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 536. ISBN   978-0-345-51392-2.
  5. 1 2 "Meet Jamie Loeb, a 20-Year-Old From Ossining, NY, Who Will Make Her Pro Tennis Debut at The U.S. Open," Tablet Magazine.
  6. 1 2 "UNC's Jamie Loeb finishes spectacular season, claims individual title" | NCAA.com
  7. ↑ "Malan Award-winning Loeb likes to talk tennis as much as playing it," Midland Daily News.
  8. ↑ "Rising Jewish star Loeb ousted," The Jerusalem Post.
  9. ↑ "Carolina Men's Golf 2012–13" (PDF). Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ "UNC Wrestling C.D. Mock Bio". University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Wrestling History in the NCAA" (PDF). NCAA Wrestling. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  12. ↑ "UNC Tar Heels Facilities". University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Big turnout for Rugby Sevens tournament at PPL Park".
  14. ↑ "NCAA Records" (PDF). Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  15. ↑ "HBO's Duke-UNC documentary". Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
  16. ↑ 1907 Yackety Yack p.294.
  17. ↑ "UNC School Songs". Library.UNC.edu. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  18. ↑ "UNC School Songs". tarheelblue.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2006. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
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