Seven Coaches Get Contract Extensions

Posted on Sept. 23, 2016

Women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell is among seven head coaches with whom the University has agreed in principle to contract extensions.

The Board of Trustees on Thursday approved a two-year extension for the women’s basketball coach through 2019-20. Receiving three-year extensions through 2018-19 were Joe Breschi ’90, men’s lacrosse; Anson Dorrance ’74, women’s soccer; Sam Paul, men’s tennis; Karen Shelton, field hockey; and Carlos Somoano, men’s soccer. Women’s lacrosse coach Jenny Levy got a one-year extension through 2018-19.

These are the first multi-year contracts for Breschi, Dorrance, Shelton, Somoano and Paul.

The seven coaches have combined for 34 national championships at UNC. Five of them  have been head coaches at Carolina for 20-plus seasons, including 40 years for Dorrance, 36 for Shelton, 31 for Hatchell, 24 for Paul and 22 for Levy.

Breschi is in his ninth season as the men’s lacrosse coach at his alma mater. Last year, the Tar Heels defeated top-ranked Maryland in overtime to win the NCAA championship, Carolina’s first since 1991. Breschi played and was an assistant coach at Carolina. He has led the Tar Heels to the NCAA Tournament in each of his eight seasons as the head coach.

Dorrance is in his 38th season as the women’s coach, and he goes back 40 years, having coached the men’s team. His teams have won 22 national championships, 21 regular-season ACC titles and 20 ACC Tournament championships. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Dorrance also led the United States Women’s National Team to its first World Cup title in 1991.

Hatchell is in her 42nd season as a college head coach and 31st as head coach at UNC. She is a 2013 inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and a 2004 inductee in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Carolina won the NCAA championship in 1994, and Hatchell won AIAW and NAIA national titles at Francis Marion.

Levy, UNC’s first and only women’s lacrosse head coach, is in her 22nd season. Last May, Levy led UNC to its second NCAA title in four years. She is the fourth-winningest coach in the sport’s history. Carolina has played in 18 NCAA Tournaments and reached the final four nine times.

Paul is in his 24th season as men’s tennis head coach. Last year, the Tar Heels reached the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time in the program’s history, won their first national title — the ITA National Team Indoor Championship — and won a school-record 28 matches. Paul has led the Tar Heels to the NCAA Elite Eight three consecutive years.

Shelton is in her 36th season as field hockey head coach and is a member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. She has led UNC to six NCAA championships, 19 ACC championships, is a five-time national coach of the year and nine-time ACC Coach of the Year.

Somoano is in his sixth year as head coach of the men’s soccer team and his 15th year at Carolina. He led the Tar Heels to the 2011 NCAA championship in his first season as the head coach. He won national and ACC coach of the year honors that season and has led UNC to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first five seasons.