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‘University Of National Champions’ (Again): 49 NCAA Team Titles, 13 Coaches, 8 Programs

By David Glenn

 

At some point in the 1980s, the University of North Carolina started being described as the University of National Champions.

Legendary coach Dean Smith had led UNC to the 1982 NCAA men’s basketball title. Carolina’s men’s lacrosse program had won NCAA championships in 1981, 1982 and 1986. Then, when the NCAA finally started sponsoring championships in women’s sports, in 1982, trailblazing coach Anson Dorrance led UNC’s women’s soccer teams to victory in 12 of the first 13 events.

Last week, UNC added yet another team title to its ACC-leading and national top-10 (see charts at bottom) list of 49 NCAA team championships, and this time it came from both a coach (Brian Kalbas) and a program (women’s tennis) that, while extremely successful in countless other ways, had not previously been able to call themselves the NCAA team champion.

Perhaps even more impressive, the Tar Heels won the women’s tennis title with an “All-American” group — meaning, in this case, a roster consisting entirely of Americans — in the NCAA sport most dominated by international students.

According to the NCAA’s most recent statistics, from the 2021-22 season, approximately two-thirds (66%) of Division I women’s tennis players were from foreign countries. (The 2021-22 number was roughly 61% in men’s tennis.) UNC’s 10-woman championship roster consisted entirely of home-grown, American talent: two players from North Carolina and one each from Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Kalbas, now in his 20th season with the Tar Heels, said he knew when he took the Carolina job in 2003, after building a very successful program at William & Mary, that the brand name and resources provided by UNC would give him a chance to compete for the sport’s biggest prizes.

“When I first came to Carolina, my dream was to be a part of the national championship club,” Kalbas said. “We won seven indoor (national) titles, and we’d never won this (NCAA) one. It just was very elusive. For it to be this year, with this team, means the world for me personally, because I know we’ve had great teams in the past, and every team every year kind of led to this year.”

The “national championship club” Kalbas mentioned now includes 49 NCAA team titles spread among eight UNC programs.

Reminder: Overall, Carolina claims 60 all-time “national championships,” but 11 of those were not NCAA-sanctioned titles. For example, the seven national indoor team titles Kalbas mentioned came at an annual event sponsored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA); UNC’s men’s tennis program has two ITA national indoor team titles.

UNC’s 49 NCAA Team Championships

(By Program)

  • Women’s soccer — 21
  • Women’s field hockey — 10
  • Men’s basketball — 6
  • Men’s lacrosse — 5
  • Women’s lacrosse — 3
  • Men’s soccer — 2
  • Women’s basketball — 1
  • Women’s tennis — 1

Meanwhile, Kalbas added his name to UNC’s star-studded list of 12 (now 13) head coaches who are members of the NCAA title club.

UNC’s 49 NCAA Team Championships

(By Head Coach)

  • Anson Dorrance, women’s soccer — 21 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012)
  • Karen Shelton, field hockey — 10 (1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2009, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022)
  • Jenny Levy, women’s lacrosse — 3 (2013, 2016, 2022)
  • Willie Scroggs, men’s lacrosse — 3 (1981, 1982, 1986)
  • Roy Williams, men’s basketball — 3 (2005, 2009, 2017)
  • Dean Smith, men’s basketball — 2 (1982, 1993)
  • Elmar Bolowich, men’s soccer — 1 (2001)
  • Joe Breschi, men’s lacrosse — 1 (2016)
  • Sylvia Hatchell, women’s basketball — 1 (1994)
  • Brian Kalbas, women’s tennis — 1 (2023)
  • Dave Klarmann, men’s lacrosse — 1 (1991)
  • Frank McGuire, men’s basketball — 1 (1957)
  • Carlos Somoano, men’s soccer — 1 (2011)

Kalbas joins Breschi, Dorrance, Levy and Somoano as the five active UNC head coaches who still have time to add to their championship-caliber résumés.

Just two years ago, UNC’s women’s tennis program suffered the embarrassment of having to move an important outdoor ACC match indoors, after one of the courts at its outdoor facility, which it shares with Carolina’s men’s team, was deemed unplayable.

Now, thanks to private donations from UNC tennis alum Tom Chewning and many others, the Tar Heels have a brand-new, $18.5 million outdoor facility, the Chewning Tennis Center, to go with their first NCAA team championship.

“(We’ve had) a lot of special teams that have come really close in the last 10, 13 years, and this team got it done,” Kalbas said. “This team has been special since day one, and I’m just so proud of everybody. What a great victory for our program. … It’s been such a fun year (on and off the court). To cap it off with a championship is just icing on the cake.”

NCAA Team Championships*

(ACC Only)

  1. North Carolina — 49
  2. Virginia — 33
  3. Notre Dame — 22
  4. Duke — 17
  5. Syracuse — 16
  6. Florida State — 11
  7. Wake Forest — 9
  8. Boston College — 5
  9. Miami — 5
  10. Clemson — 4
  11. NC State — 4
  12. Louisville — 3
  13. Georgia Tech — 1
  14. Pittsburgh — 0
  15. Virginia Tech — 0

NCAA Team Championships*

(Top 10 Nationally)

  1. Stanford — 133
  2. UCLA — 121
  3. Southern California — 112
  4. Texas — 55
  5. Penn State — 53
  6. Oklahoma State — 52
  7. Arkansas — 50
  8. North Carolina — 49
  9. LSU — 45
  10. California — 42

*-FBS-level football and other sports are not included because they’re not NCAA-sponsored championships 


David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com@DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.


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