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Sylvia Hatchell

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Basketball Coach

The Resume

    (February 28, 1952- )
    Born in Gastonia, North Carolina
    Head coach at Francis Marion College (1975-86) and the University of North Carolina (1986-2019)
    Win-loss record: 1,023-405
    Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (2013)
    Resigned following an investigation of the UNC women’s basketball program (April 18, 2019)

Why she might be annoying:

    When she saw four injured players – three of whom were recovering from knee surgery – sitting out from practice, she yelled at an assistant, ‘Get them out of my sight. They make me sick.’ (2017)
    She reportedly pressured injured players to return to the court before they had fully healed and to take cortisone shots to play through pain.
    Five members of the 2018-19 team reported being cleared to play by the team doctor only to discover through second opinions that they had serious injuries, including torn tendons.
    Players claimed that before a game against Louisville, she told them that if their play did not improve, ‘They’re going to have nooses outside the arena, and they’re going to hang you by your necks from trees.’
    When players asked her to apologize over the implied lynching threat, she initially refused, and got angry at the players for having told their parents about the remarks.
    When she eventually did apologize, it sounded so insincere that UNC’s athletic director ordered her to make a second apology.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was twice named Naismith College Coach of the Year (1994, 2006).
    She was the third women’s college basketball coach to reach 1,000 career wins.
    She resumed coaching after having to take a season off to be treated for acute myeloid leukemia (2014).
    The investigation concluded her remarks were ‘racially insensitive’ but not racist.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 118 Votes: 61.02% Annoying