Women's Basketball
Banghart, Courtney
Courtney Banghart
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Instagram:
- @courtneybanghart
When North Carolina selected Courtney Banghart as the fourth head coach in women’s basketball program history, the University added another outstanding leader to its family of championship-winning head coaches. Banghart, honored by Fortune Magazine in 2015 as one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders, was announced as the Tar Heel head coach on April 30, 2019.
Following the 2024-25 season, her sixth at UNC and 18th as a head coach, her career record stands at 379-167. Carolina is 125-64 in Banghart’s tenure.
“Courtney Banghart has proven she knows how to lead students to wins both on and off the court,’’ Carolina Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said upon her hiring. “She believes in developing strong character and a championship mentality, in recruiting and graduating players who want to serve their community, and in building relationships in and outside of her program. She is an outstanding addition to our department and University, and I am pleased to welcome Courtney and her family to our Carolina family.”
She has led the Tar Heels to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Sweet 16 trips in 2022 and 2025. Earning a No. 3 seed this past season, UNC welcomed NCAA Tournament basketball to Carmichael Arena for the first time since 2015. Carolina rattled off two wins at home to advance to the regional semifinals for the 19th time in school history.
In 2019-20, she opened her UNC career with eight consecutive wins, the best start to a season since 2014-15. The 2020-21 team finished 13-11 in an abbreviated Covid season, reaching the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio, Texas.
In 2022-23, the Tar Heels finished 22-11, reaching the NCAA Tournament second round. They were ranked as high as sixth in the AP poll during the season, the program's highest spot since 2014-15. The 2023-24 Tar Heels finished 20-13, playing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row and advancing to at least the second round for the third year in a row.
The 2024-25 season proved to be a high for Banghart and the Tar Heels with 29 wins for the most in a season since 2012-13. Carolina was a force on the road, with a 9-0 start for its best on the road since 2005-06, while an 8-0 start away in ACC games marked a new best in program history. Four Tar Heels also picked up ACC honors, including one first team honoree, two second team and one all-freshman.
Banghart has led her team to the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the past 15 tournaments.
Banghart was the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year after leading Princeton to a 30-0 regular season record. In 12 years as a head coach there, she amassed a 254-103 (.711) record, including a 137-31 (.816) mark against Ivy League opponents. Under her direction, the Tigers won seven Ivy League titles and reached the NCAA Tournament eight times. She accomplished all while emphasizing academic pursuit, service, and leadership.
Born and raised in New Hampshire, Banghart was a three-year starter at Dartmouth College, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in 2000. She was a two-time first-team All-Ivy selection and owns the Ivy League record with 273 career three-pointers. In 1999, she earned the Ed Seitz Award as the top three-point specialist in the nation after connecting on a program-best 97 three-pointers.
After graduating from Dartmouth, she worked at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., as the girls’ athletic director and head coach of the girls’ basketball and tennis teams — an experience, she says, that taught her the transformative power of teaching and coaching. She returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach from 2003-07 and won two Ivy League championships during her tenure as Dartmouth’s recruiting coordinator. She also used that time to earn a master’s degree in writing and leadership development.
In 2007, Banghart took over a Princeton program that had never played in the NCAA Tournament and transformed her team into a perennial NCAA participant that re-wrote both the Ivy League and Princeton record books. Over a dozen seasons, she helped the Tigers to a plethora of team and conference firsts and bests, including:
• The top regular-season record and longest winning streak across Division I, both women and men at 30-0 in 2015
• The highest NCAA tournament seed (No. 8) in program history
• The Ivy league’s only at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament
• The highest AP poll and coaches poll ranking (No. 13) in program history
• The first ranking in the AP preseason poll in Ivy League women’s basketball history
She also helped develop two AP and WBCA honorable-mention All-Americas, 20 first-team All-Ivy picks, nine second-team selections, two honorable mention recipients, three CoSIDA Academic All-Americas and 10 Winter Academic All-Ivy selections. She coached three Princeton players who advanced to the WNBA, including the program’s first WNBA draft pick in 2018.
Banghart served as an assistant coach for the 2017 USA Basketball Women's U23 National Team, which won the inaugural U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo.
She was inducted into the Dartmouth College Hall of Fame in 2004 and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Banghart is the acting president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association, beginning a two-year term in July of 2023.
She lives in Chapel Hill with her spouse and three young children.
Following the 2024-25 season, her sixth at UNC and 18th as a head coach, her career record stands at 379-167. Carolina is 125-64 in Banghart’s tenure.
“Courtney Banghart has proven she knows how to lead students to wins both on and off the court,’’ Carolina Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said upon her hiring. “She believes in developing strong character and a championship mentality, in recruiting and graduating players who want to serve their community, and in building relationships in and outside of her program. She is an outstanding addition to our department and University, and I am pleased to welcome Courtney and her family to our Carolina family.”
She has led the Tar Heels to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Sweet 16 trips in 2022 and 2025. Earning a No. 3 seed this past season, UNC welcomed NCAA Tournament basketball to Carmichael Arena for the first time since 2015. Carolina rattled off two wins at home to advance to the regional semifinals for the 19th time in school history.
In 2019-20, she opened her UNC career with eight consecutive wins, the best start to a season since 2014-15. The 2020-21 team finished 13-11 in an abbreviated Covid season, reaching the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio, Texas.
In 2022-23, the Tar Heels finished 22-11, reaching the NCAA Tournament second round. They were ranked as high as sixth in the AP poll during the season, the program's highest spot since 2014-15. The 2023-24 Tar Heels finished 20-13, playing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row and advancing to at least the second round for the third year in a row.
The 2024-25 season proved to be a high for Banghart and the Tar Heels with 29 wins for the most in a season since 2012-13. Carolina was a force on the road, with a 9-0 start for its best on the road since 2005-06, while an 8-0 start away in ACC games marked a new best in program history. Four Tar Heels also picked up ACC honors, including one first team honoree, two second team and one all-freshman.
Banghart has led her team to the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the past 15 tournaments.
Banghart was the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year after leading Princeton to a 30-0 regular season record. In 12 years as a head coach there, she amassed a 254-103 (.711) record, including a 137-31 (.816) mark against Ivy League opponents. Under her direction, the Tigers won seven Ivy League titles and reached the NCAA Tournament eight times. She accomplished all while emphasizing academic pursuit, service, and leadership.
Born and raised in New Hampshire, Banghart was a three-year starter at Dartmouth College, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in 2000. She was a two-time first-team All-Ivy selection and owns the Ivy League record with 273 career three-pointers. In 1999, she earned the Ed Seitz Award as the top three-point specialist in the nation after connecting on a program-best 97 three-pointers.
After graduating from Dartmouth, she worked at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., as the girls’ athletic director and head coach of the girls’ basketball and tennis teams — an experience, she says, that taught her the transformative power of teaching and coaching. She returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach from 2003-07 and won two Ivy League championships during her tenure as Dartmouth’s recruiting coordinator. She also used that time to earn a master’s degree in writing and leadership development.
In 2007, Banghart took over a Princeton program that had never played in the NCAA Tournament and transformed her team into a perennial NCAA participant that re-wrote both the Ivy League and Princeton record books. Over a dozen seasons, she helped the Tigers to a plethora of team and conference firsts and bests, including:
• The top regular-season record and longest winning streak across Division I, both women and men at 30-0 in 2015
• The highest NCAA tournament seed (No. 8) in program history
• The Ivy league’s only at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament
• The highest AP poll and coaches poll ranking (No. 13) in program history
• The first ranking in the AP preseason poll in Ivy League women’s basketball history
She also helped develop two AP and WBCA honorable-mention All-Americas, 20 first-team All-Ivy picks, nine second-team selections, two honorable mention recipients, three CoSIDA Academic All-Americas and 10 Winter Academic All-Ivy selections. She coached three Princeton players who advanced to the WNBA, including the program’s first WNBA draft pick in 2018.
Banghart served as an assistant coach for the 2017 USA Basketball Women's U23 National Team, which won the inaugural U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo.
She was inducted into the Dartmouth College Hall of Fame in 2004 and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Banghart is the acting president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association, beginning a two-year term in July of 2023.
She lives in Chapel Hill with her spouse and three young children.
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