Banghart Heading to Tobacco Road to Make UNC Smoking Again

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

After making Princeton the hottest Ivy women’s basketball team for the past decade, as well as one that at times became nationally regarded, Tigers coach Courtney Banghart, a former Dartmouth star, apparently is heading for Tobacco Road to attempt to get North Carolina’s Tar Heels smoking again.

UNC announced hire Tuesday morning following reports Monday night.

Banghart, who normally quickly returns texts and phone calls, did not do so after reports from Raleigh and elsewhere as well as the Associated Press, a sign that the deal will be done pending a trustees meeting Tuesday which obviously went well  at the Atlantic Coast Conference athletics powerhouse in all sports but whose women’s hoops program had gone into decline in recent seasons before showing a rebound this past one.

Were not the reports credible, Banghart would have quickly shot it down to media representatives with she has ongoing contacts, including yours truly.

The news of her move came on an offseason day rather active several weeks after Baylor held off defending Notre Dame to win its first title.

On Monday the Bears became the first women’s basketball champion, pro or collegiate, as well as any individual women’s sports contingent to receive and attend a visit to the White House since Donald J. Trump became president.

Also, the NCAA announced a five-year strategic plan for all three Divisions in the sport, the first ever for any of its competitive team championships.

 Thrown in the middle of all this was a $5 million donation announced in Des Moines, Iowa, at Drake for its women’s basketball team.

More about all that later in the day.

While a bit off the mark, the 40-year-old Banghart will realize two expectations that were made as Princeton set such milestones as the Ivy’s first nationally-ranked women’s basketball team, a season that lasted unbeaten until losing at Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament, and the first Ivy team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney.

One expectation was that eventually she would land at a Power Five institution to see what she could do with a program free of the rules of recruiting and such that are a bit more restrictive in the Ivies and the other that she would likely next head to the Research Triangle in North Carolina.

But many believed that Duke would eventually come calling after Banghart rejected bids from other Power Five schools as the Tigers rose to prominence.

And at Rutgers just a half-hour away up the road in New Brunswick, there had been hopes in some quarters that Banghart would be available when the time came for longtime Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer to call it a career.

Another on the wish list for that eventual succession in Scarlet Knights country is Michigan’s Kim Barnes Arico, who previously coached at St. John’s.

As prominent programs became open at the end of this past season at such places as Penn State and Tennessee, few felt that Banghart would leave prior to the final year of her latest star, two-time Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie, who is one of the few Ivy players to be considered WNBA stock in history.

Former Princeton standout Blake Dietrick is currently a member of the Atlanta Dream while former Tigers member Leslie Robinson, a niece of former President Obama, on Monday was announced signed to a Chicago Sky training camp deal after being drafted a year ago but cut by the New York Liberty before last season got under way.

But North Carolina became open several weeks ago following the resignation of longtime Hall of Fame coach Sylvia Hatchell in the wake of an internal investigation of her practices that were protested by several players and was reported in the Washington Post.

This past season was one especially notable in Banghart’s 12-year career in enduring a seven-game losing streak early due to injuries to Alarie and several others before coming back to edge Penn for the top-seed in the Ivy tourney and then repeating its league tourney crown in a tightly-fought championship with the Quakers at Yale. 

The Tigers finished 22-10 following a narrow first-round loss to Kentucky in the NCAA tourney.

The two schools were co-champs and in all Banghart’s teams (254-103, 0.711) (137-31 Ivy, 0.816) have won seven titles in the past decade, while Penn has won the other three.

Prior to her arrival from where she had been an assistant at her alma mater, Princeton had never been to the NCAA tourney.

Asked what he saw in Banghart one time in the many chats your Guru had on press row with former Tigers athletics director Gary Walters, who hired her, he said, “I look for those with championship experience or other distinguishing features. 

“It’s amazing how many players develop and improve under her after their freshmen seasons but considering the number, it really isn’t.”

An active social media participant, Banghart should be popular in the ACC, considering her honed media skills, especially her wit. 

The league previously saw the return to coaching by Nell Fortner at Georgia Tech, replacing MaChelle Joseph.

Asked once after reading a remark she made upon playing her alma mater at Dartmouth, and asked about it in jest, she replied, “I paid to go to Dartmouth but Princeton is paying me to coach these guys.”

At a party at the NCAA tourney after enduring a rugged first year, upon leaving Banghart said to yours truly, who has Princeton in his local Division I fold, “You come see us more next year because we’re really going to be good.”

With the addition of then freshman Niveen Rasheed from Standford’s back yard, Banghart made good and blitzed the Ivies as Princeton continued to go unchallenged until Mike McLaughlin came to Penn shortly thereafter to build the Quakers fortunes and give the Tigers a fight and one of the more anticipated rivalries besides Harvard.

So, if Banghart is departing, who succeeds her with the Tigers?

There doesn’t seem to be an in-house candidate though former Princeton star Addie Micir from Bucks County who joined the staff last season after serving at Dartmouth has upside.

Credit the Guru’s colleague Kyle Franco from the Trentonian in shaking the cobwebs loose in mentioning former assistant Chessie Jackson, who has done fine at Division III College of New Jersey, though Banghart might tap her to join the Tar Heels.

Former Stanford star Milena Flores, who had been with Banghart the whole time prior to last season when she left the profession, might be coaxed back, but, again, perhaps if so it would be to head to Chapel Hill.

Division III USciences coach Jackie Hartzell was runnerup at La Salle last year and might be worth a look.

Depending on her interest in Princeton, Melanie Balcomb, a Trenton native who had success at Xavier and Vanderbilt, is looking to get back into coaching. She also served as a consultant on Dawn Staley’s 2017 championship at South Carolina.

However strike that one since several hours later Tuesday Balcomb was announced as senior associate coach at Purdue.

Depending on how the move is perceived because Princeton certainly has the dollars, Quinnipiac coach Tricia Fabbri could be looking at a change of scenery after dominating the Metro Atlantic Conference.

However, on Tuesday Fabbri said she is happy with the Bobcats after reports recently surfaced having her under consideration at Penn State before the Lady Lions hired former Marquette coach Carolyn Kieger.

American’s Megan Gebbia, a former longtime Marist associate head coach, is another prospect.

Salaries might be comparable at Drexel to not be a lure for Denise Dillon and then there’s the Ivy way of life to consider in terms of recruiting.

Of course, once the job is officially open, the rumor mill might bring candidates of interest.

For the moment your  Guru will hold off on commentary on other news mentioned above until later in the day.

And that’s the report.