University of North Carolina Athletics
From Fetzer to Finley: A Critical Look At Issues Involving UNC Olympic Sports
February 24, 2001 | Track & Field
Feb. 24, 2001
By Dave Lohse
Associate Director of Athletic Communications
Last weekend the North Carolina women's track and field team was busy competing in last chance meets hoping to firm up its provisional performances and nab a couple more automatic ones as it prepares for the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championships at the University of Arkansas March 9 and 10.
That should come as no surprise. Under the leadership of head track coach Dennis Craddock, the Tar Heel women's program has been a model of excellence and consistency over the past decade and a half. And top-flight NCAA performances have been a key part of that model.
Since Craddock arrived at Chapel Hill in 1985 the Tar Heels have ruled the world of women's track in the Atlantic Coast Conference with an amazing dominance. When Carolina claimed the 2001 ACC title a couple of weekends ago at Blacksburg, Va., it was Carolina's 13th ACC championship in the sport since the ACC began sponsorship of the sport's championship in 1987. Virginia won the first conference title in that '87 season and the Tar Heels then ran off four titles in a row before Clemson nipped the Tar Heels by 12 points in the 1992 championship. Since then Carolina has run off nine more ACC indoor titles in a row, giving Carolina 13 titles in all and Virginia and Clemson one each. That, by any measure, has to be considered dominance.
And to prove the point even more only one of the Tar Heels' 13 championship performances has seen been close. That came in 1983 when UNC topped defending champion Clemson by 5.5 points.
Carolina has gone on to turn its ACC success into Top 10 placings at the NCAA Championships as well. UNC finished eighth indoors at nationals in 1989, 1991 and 1995 and 10th in 1996 and 1999.
The Tar Heels have been one of the best teams in the conference when the outdoor season revs up although Carolina's level of dominance has not been to the extent it has been indoors. Still, since the ACC began its championship in 1983 Carolina leads all schools with 10 titles. Virginia actually won the first five ACC championships, the first three of which were won when Craddock was the head coach there. Beginning in 1988 the Tar Heels have won 10 titles with Clemson snaring two championships and Florida State one. That total could easily be 12 since the Tar Heels were nipped by only three points when Clemson won the championship in 1991 and by a mere nine points when Florida State won in the year 2000. In 1999, the Tar Heels had the audacity to finish third behind both Clemson and Florida State. How dare they?
On the national level Carolina finished 10th in 1991, sixth in 1994 and a program best fifth in 1996.
Of course the key to the kind of success Carolina has enjoyed is great coaching and great recruiting. Teams simply can't thrive like Carolina has without those elements. And the two factors are intertwined. Great coaches are necessary to recruit well. And great talent makes coaches great. Craddock has been named the ACC coach of the year during the outdoor season 10 times and he has won the indoor women's coach of the year nine times including this year.
Track and field is just another sport at Carolina which helps elevate the Tar Heels' women's sports program to another level. Carolina's amazing run of success in soccer, field hockey, swimming and diving, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field consistently mean that the women's sports at UNC are going to go a long way in making sure the Tar Heels are near the top of the Sears Directors' Cup standings every year. The sports also always seem to make sure that Carolina is going to be close to winning its half a dozen or so ACC championships the athletic program seems to produce every year.
Things are likely to get better for track and field at Carolina as well. Not only do the Tar Heels have one of the best outdoor facilities in the nation in the Irwin Belk Track and Fetzer Field but soon the new Eddie Smith Field House will open, giving Carolina one of the best indoor track facilities in the country.
And those are the kinds of things, which make Craddock a better coach, and a better recruiter and Carolina's program better as well.
