March 20, 2008

ATLANTA --- North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell was one of eight coaches honored as a 2008 Russell Athletic/WBCA Regional Coach of the Year for Division I, the WBCA announced this week. Hatchell, who led the No. 2 Tar Heels to a perfect Atlantic Coast Conference season and the No. 1 seed in the New Orleans Region, is now a finalist for national honors.

The winners are selected through a two-level process. The first level is by region, in which coaches from each WBCA geographical region vote for their respective top coach. If a coach has been selected as Regional Coach of the Year, they advance as a finalist to the national level of the selection process along with the other Regional Coaches of the Year in their respective division.

The winners of the WBCA National Coach of the Year for each division will be honored on Monday, April 7, 2008, at Noon (ET) during the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year Luncheon presented by AstraZeneca in the Marriott Waterside's Grand Ballroom. The luncheon is part of the 2008 WBCA National Convention, held in conjunction with the NCAA Women's Final Four.

Other regional winners include Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, UTEP's Keitha Adams, Kansas State's Debbie Patterson, Iowa's Lisa Bluder, Utah's Elaine Elliott and Cal's Joanne Boyle.