Sylvia Hatchell develops new coaching talents

As Charlotte Smith transitions into her new role as head women’s basketball coach at Elon University, she knows her old head coach and No. 1 mentor is only a short drive away.

In fact, North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell has already received a few phone calls from her former assistant.

“One night she called me and left me a message, and she says, ‘I’m driving back from Elon, and I just wanted to tell you that I had no idea that there was so much to being a head coach,’” said Hatchell, who has gotten similar responses from other assistants who have stepped up to the next level.

“There’s a lot of difference in moving down that bench about 10 or 12 inches,” Hatchell said.

The assistant who preceded Smith, Sylvia Crawley, is now entering her third season at the helm for Boston College. Hatchell estimated that about 10 of her former players, including Smith and Crawley, are coaching in some capacity at the collegiate level.

That network of coaches is likely the direct result of the philosophy Hatchell has tried to instill in the Tar Heel basketball program.

The head coach looks to not only prepare her players to excel on the court, but also to equip them with the knowledge necessary to impact the game long after their playing careers are over.

As Hatchell phrases it, she wants the program to be “where eagles are trained and then released to soar.”

For aspiring head coach Trisha Stafford-Odom, that sort of philosophy and the educational environment Hatchell promotes were enough to draw her away from her assistant coaching position at Duke and into the role vacated by Smith.

“With her connections and her knowledge and her support and knowing what my intentions are, she has definitely signed on to develop me into all that I need to be,” Stafford-Odom said.

“I feel like under her tutelage, I’ll grow leaps and bounds.”

Spending the last two seasons with the Blue Devils, Stafford-Odom has only been able to view the Tar Heels from afar. But in the short time since she joined the UNC staff Aug. 24, the inner workings of the program have already made an impression on her.

“I’m here like a kid in a candy store … and I’m absorbing it like a recruit,” Stafford-Odom said. “And it’s fun for me because I have total admiration and respect for this place.”

Before her two-year tenure at Duke, Stafford-Odom served as an assistant coach at UCLA for three years where she quickly proved herself adept at recruiting. In her best year at UCLA, Stafford-Odom drew a No. 3 class, and she went on to recruit consecutive top-five classes during her time at Duke — including the No. 1 class for the 2009-10 season.

For a UNC team that has lost senior leaders Jessica Breland, Italee Lucas and Cetera DeGraffenreid, Stafford-Odom’s recruiting talents could expedite the rebuilding process.

“That’s a win-win for us,” Hatchell said. “She helps us with her abilities, and in return we train her with how we do things and help her become a better coach.”

That same sort of trade was made nine years ago when Hatchell added Smith to her staff.

While Smith served as assistant, the Tar Heels compiled a 257-54 record, made the NCAA Tournament every season and won four ACC titles.

It was during her playing career, though, when Smith truly established her legacy at UNC, and her No. 23 jersey now hangs from the rafters at Carmichael Arena.

In her four years, Smith accrued 2,094 points and 1,200 rebounds — both top-five UNC totals.

And in the 1994 NCAA championship win on March 29, Smith took perhaps the greatest shot in the history of the program.

Down 59-57 to Louisiana Tech with 7/10 of a second left on the clock, Smith unleashed a three-pointer that Hatchell half-jokingly called “the second greatest miracle to ever happen on Easter Sunday.”

But despite all the history and all the years Smith has called UNC home, both she and Hatchell knew a day would come when she would have to leave the nest.

And when the Elon position opened, the timing felt right.

“I feel like I had a great career there at UNC, but it was time for me to spread my wings and go in a different direction,” Smith said. “And I knew for the last couple of years that I wanted to give head coaching an opportunity … I’m looking forward to hopefully doing what we did at Carolina when I was there in my playing days.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.