The North Carolina Tar Heels (also 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. 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 UNC or The Heels.
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.
Carolina has won 52 NCAA Division I team national championships in eight different sports, seventh all-time, and 52 individual national championships.
Sports sponsored Men's sports Women's sports Baseball Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Fencing Fencing Field hockey Football Golf Golf Gymnastics Lacrosse Lacrosse Soccer Rowing Swimming & diving Soccer Tennis Softball Track and field Swimming & diving Wrestling Tennis Track and field Volleyball
Baseball
Head coach: Scott Forbes Stadium: Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium ACC Championships: 9 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 2007, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2022) College World Series appearances: 13 (1960, 1966, 1978, 1988, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2024, 2026)
Also nicknamed the Diamond Heels, Carolina's baseball team has appeared in the College World Series eleven times. They have reached the championship series three times. They lost both the (2006 and 2007) CWS to Oregon State. In 2026, the Tar Heels lost the finals to the Oklahoma Sooners.
Men's basketball
Head coach: Michael Malone Arena: Dean E. Smith Center Southern Conference Championships: 13 (tournament: 1922, 1924 [undefeated], 1925, 1926, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1945; regular season: 1935, 1938, 1941, 1944, 1946) ACC regular season championships: 32 (1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2024) ACC Tournament Championships: 18 (1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008, 2016) NCAA National Championships: 6 (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017) Pre-Tournament Claimed National Championships: 1 (1924) Postseason Invitational Championships: 1 (1971) NCAA Final Four appearances: 21 (1946, 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2022) Best final ranking: No. 1 (Associated Press: 1957, 1982, 1984, 1994, 1998, 2008, 2009; Coaches: 1957, 1982, 1984, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017) National Players of the Year: 8 (Jack Cobb 1923–26, George Glamack 1938–41, Lennie Rosenbluth 1954–57, Phil Ford 1974–78, James Worthy 1979–82, Michael Jordan 1981–1984, Antawn Jamison 1995–98, Tyler Hansbrough 2005–09).
Carolina has enjoyed long success as one of the top college basketball programs in the country. The program claims 7 national championship teams, six NCAA National Championships and one retroactive championship, for the 1924. This championship was awarded by the Helms Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.
Under coach Frank McGuire, the Tar Heels won one national championship in 1957. The 1956-57 team went undefeated on their way to the school's first NCAA tournament championship. McGuire was succeeded by Dean Smith. After struggling early in his tenure, Smith entrenched the Tar Heels as a basketball powerhouse over his 36 years as head coach. At the time of his retirement, Smith's 879 wins set the record for the most wins of any men's college basketball head coach. Under Smith, the Tar Heels won two national championships, 13 ACC Tournament championships, and one NIT Championship. Smith is also credited with popularizing the four corners, which he employed until the introduction of the shot clock in college basketball. Smith is also credited with developing "The Carolina Way," epitomized by his motto of "Play hard, play smart, play together," and by other team-oriented practices including "point to the passer," where the player who scores a basket thanks his teammate for the assist.
In 2003, Roy Williams, an assistant under Smith from 1978 to 1988 and the head coach of Kansas, returned to his alma mater. In Williams' second season as head coach, the Tar Heels won the 2005 NCAA national championship. Williams would go on to win two more national titles (2009 and 2017) in his 18 seasons as Tar Heel head coach. Williams passed his mentor Smith's 879 win total, finishing his career with 903 wins, 485 of which came in Chapel Hill.
Williams retired on April 1, 2021, and was replaced by assistant coach Hubert Davis. Davis, who played for Tar Heels from 1988 to 1992 under Smith, also had a lengthy career as an NBA player, and spent several seasons as an analyst for ESPN before being hired by Williams as an assistant coach in 2012. He became the first African American head coach for UNC men's basketball, and led the team to its NCAA-record 21st final four in the 2021-22 season.
JV Basketball North Carolina was one of the few remaining Division I schools to sponsor a junior varsity basketball team. The JV Tar Heels played games against community colleges and preparatory schools. The final season of Carolina JV basketball was 2024-25.
Women's basketball
Head coach: Courtney Banghart Arena: Carmichael Arena ACC regular season championships: 4 (1997, 2005, 2006, 2008) ACC Tournament Championships: 9 (1984, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) Final Four appearances: 3 (1994, 2006, 2007) National Championships: 1 (1994)
Under legendary coach Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina women's basketball had many successful seasons. Perhaps the most successful season came in 1993–94, when Hatchell's Tar Heels won the NCAA national championship. Following several seasons of downturn, Hatchell resigned after the 2018–19 season.
Coach Hatchell was replaced by Courtney Banghart, who immediately began to rebuild the program. In her four seasons as head coach, Banghart has begun to raise the standards of the program back to the national level by recruiting at a high level and making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022. The 2022 team reached the NCAA tournament round of sixteen for the first time since 2015, where the Tar Heels gave eventual national champion South Carolina their closest game of the tournament.
Field hockey
Head coach: Erin Matson Stadium: Karen Shelton Stadium ACC Championships: 26 (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) National Championships: 11 (1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2009, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)
Karen Shelton led the Carolina field hockey program for 42 years prior to her retirement following the 2022 season. She won 10 NCAA national championships and 25 ACC titles, both records for the sport. Shelton was replaced by former star player Erin Matson, who herself was a member of four of UNC's national championship teams (2018–2020, 2022), and is the only athlete to win the ACC's player of the year award five times. In Matson's first season in 2023, she led the Tar Heels to their 11th national title, becoming the youngest head coach ever to win a Division I national title in any sport (at age 23).
Football
Head coach: Bill Belichick Stadium: Kenan Memorial Stadium Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships: 1 (1895) Southern Conference Championships: 4 (1922, 1934, 1946, 1949) ACC Championships: 5 (1963, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1980) ACC Coastal Division Championships: 3 (2012, 2015, 2022) Postseason Bowl appearances: 37 (1947 Sugar, 1949 Sugar, 1950 Cotton, 1963 Gator, 1970 Peach, 1971 Gator, 1972 Sun, 1974 Sun, 1976 Peach, 1977 Liberty, 1979 Gator, 1980 Bluebonnet, 1981 Gator, 1982 Sun, 1983 Peach, 1986 Aloha, 1993 Peach, 1993 Gator, 1994 Sun, 1995 Carquest, 1997 Gator, 1998 Gator, 1998 Las Vegas, 2001 Peach, 2004 Continental Tire, 2008 Meineke Car Care, 2009 Meineke Car Care, 2010 Music City, 2011 Independence, 2013 Belk, 2014 Quick Lane, 2015 Russell Athletic, 2016 Sun, 2019 Military, 2021 Orange Bowl – January, 2021 Duke's Mayo Bowl, 2022 Holiday Bowl) Best final ranking: No. 3 (1948 Associated Press)
Men's lacrosse
Head coach: Joe Breschi Home fields: Dorrance Field ACC Tournament Championships: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2013, 2017 ACC regular season championships: 1981, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2016, 2021 NCAA tournament appearances: 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021 NCAA tournament Final Four appearances: 14 (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2016, 2021) NCAA Tournament Championships: 5 (1981, 1982, 1986, 1991, 2016)
Women's lacrosse
Head coach: Jenny Levy Home fields: Dorrance Field ACC Tournament Championships: 2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 NCAA Tournament appearances: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances: 13 (1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) NCAA Championships: 4 (2013, 2016, 2022, 2025)
Men's soccer
Head coach: Carlos Somoano Stadium: Dorrance Field ACC Tournament championships: 1987, 2000, 2011 College Cup appearances: 1987, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2021 (spring) NCAA National Championships: 2 (2001, 2011)
Women's soccer
Head coach: Damon Nahas Stadium: Dorrance Field ACC Championships: 38 (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Tournament, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 regular season) National Championships: 23 (1981 AIAW, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2024 NCAA) College Cup appearances: 26 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 (spring), 2022, 2024)
Anson Dorrance coached the women's soccer team at Carolina from its inception in 1979 until 2024. In his 46 years as head coach, Dorrance won 38 ACC championships and 22 national championships on the way to over 1,000 victories as a head coach. In 2019, following the demolition of Fetzer Field, a new combination soccer and lacrosse stadium was opened on the same site, named Dorrance Field in his honor. Damon Nahas replaced Anson Dorrance as interim head coach prior to the 2024 season and was promoted to head coach on December 9, 2024.
Women's tennis
Head coach: Brian Kalbas Stadium: Chewning Tennis Center NCAA National Championships: 1 (2023) ITA Indoor National Championships: 7 (2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)