Banghart Named Head Coach At North Carolina

After seven Ivy League championships and eight NCAA tournament appearances in 12 seasons, Princeton head women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart has accepted the head coaching position at the University of North Carolina.

"This is the hardest decision I've ever had to make, as these 12 years have changed my life for the better," Banghart said. "I love this place and the special people we were able to bring here. Princeton's a place that challenged me every day to be my best and held me to the highest standard. I was surrounded by Hall of Fame coaches and student-athletes that dared to be great in all facets of their life. I'm so proud of everything that we have all accomplished here, on and off the court. I have such gratitude for everyone associated with Princeton, as you made this my home. I want to thank Gary Walters for taking a chance on me as a 29-year-old first-time head coach and to Mollie Marcoux Samaan for all of her support and leadership. I also want to thank the Princeton alumni who welcomed me in and supported me and my teams through the years. Coaching is a team sport, and without the talent of my assistant coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers and faculty fellows, this program would not be what it is. Princeton's a place that captures your heart, and it's a place that welcomes you home. I look forward to the great things ahead for Princeton Basketball. I am forever indebted to you all."

Banghart helped to guide Princeton to unprecedented heights while being named the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year, as well as one of Fortune Magazine's World's 50 Greatest Leaders.

Banghart put together a 254-103 (.711) overall record and won better than 80 percent of her Ivy games with a 137-31 record (.816) while winning 89 more games than any other coach in program history. She leaves fourth all-time in Ivy history in overall victories and Ivy wins.

"Courtney has done a phenomenal job with the women's basketball program here," said Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan. "She led our team to amazing successes on the court while making herself a valuable member of the athletic department and the University community. She embraced our core mission of Education through Athletics and worked tirelessly to provide her student-athletes with the opportunity to 'Achieve, Serve, and Lead.' Her Princeton family is so proud of her and we wish her great success as she embarks on the next step in her journey. She leaves a program poised for continued excellence on and off the court, and we are committed to building upon the program's unprecedented history of success."

After taking two years to turn the program around, Banghart led the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in eight of the last 10 years, with seven automatic bids and the league's only at-large bid by a men's or women's team, for a run that has never been matched in Ivy League women's history and has been done just once on the men's side (Penn won nine of 11 from 1970-80).

During Banghart's tenure, Princeton reached many program and conference firsts and bests, including: the best regular season record (30-0) and longest win streak by a men's or women's team (31) in 2015, the highest NCAA tournament seed (No. 8), the highest AP poll and coaches poll ranking (No. 13) and the first program in the Ivy League to be ranked nationally in the AP preseason poll.

In the 2018-19 season, the Tigers (22-10) secured the Ivy League regular season and tournament championships for the second straight year. Bella Alarie was honored as the Ivy Player of the Year for the second consecutive season while Carlie Littlefield was first team All-Ivy. Alarie became the second Tiger (Niveen Rasheed '13) to be named Ivy Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons and the fifth Tiger to be picked first-team All-Ivy three times.

Princeton's undefeated 30-0 regular season in 2014-15 was the best in Ivy League basketball history, men's or women's. The Tigers also achieved the highest-ever ranking for an Ivy program, climbing as high as No. 13 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. The Tigers would go on to finish with a program-best mark of 31-1. With an 80-70 first round victory over ninth-seeded Green Bay, Princeton became just the second Ivy program to record an NCAA win.

Banghart coached the Ivy League Player of the Year six times in the last nine years (Addie Micir in 2011, Niveen Rasheed in 2012 and 2013, Blake Dietrick in 2015, Bella Alarie in 2018 and 2019). Dietrick, Rasheed and Alarie were AP and WBCA honorable mention All-Americans, and Princeton had 20 first-team All-Ivy selections, nine second-team selections and two honorable mention selections. Princeton has also had several alums play professionally, including current WNBA player Dietrick.

During her time at Princeton, Banghart's student-athletes have also made their mark off the court, serving as leaders across campus and earning honors such as the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate at Princeton (won by Sydney Jordan this winter), the University's Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative (won by Alex Wheatley in 2016) and CoSIDA Academic All-America (Lauren Edwards in 2011 and Michelle Miller in 2015 and 2016).

Banghart has also represented the United States as an assistant coach to the U-23 national team, which captured victory in the inaugural U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo in August 2017.

A national search for Banghart's successor will begin immediately.

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