Robert Franklin/Associated Press
Sylvia Hatchell, the longtime women’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, stepped down after an investigation found she had made “racially insensitive” comments and pressured injured players to compete, the university announced late Thursday night.
Hatchell, who is fifth in career coaching victories in women’s basketball, was placed on leave this month, days after parents of several players met with the university’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, to complain about comments she had made that players interpreted as racist, including a warning that a bad loss could lead to “nooses.”
The report “found issues that led us to conclude that the program needed to be taken in a new direction,” Cunningham said in a statement.