North Carolina Head Coach Courtney Banhart meets with NC State Head Coach Wes Moore on Thursday, January 6, 2022, before NC State faces UNC at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, NC.
ehyman@newsobserver.com
North Carolina women’s basketball coach Courtney Banhart released a statement Monday apologizing to North Carolina fans after calling them “classless” on a podcast.
Banghart on podcast ‘The Tar Heel Show’ Run by George Hamer, from Norwich, England. He asked Banhart if he liked to beat North Carolina State or Duke.
“You’re asking who I don’t like,” Banhart said. Duke is a national and international rivalry that I love.North Carolina State fans are so classless, I don’t even like going there.”
She continued, “I have more respect for Duke, but I like to beat them up because they are more relatable. North Carolina State is mean to us and to each other.”
In his apology, Banhart said as a leader it was his responsibility to lead “thoughtfully and respectfully.”
“We intended to remain competitive between the two ardent fan bases, but we went too far. For one thing, it doesn’t exactly portray how I feel and I have no place to call it by name. I would like to publicly apologize to the players and coaches for their tireless efforts. We also apologize to the Wolfpack fan base. I have the utmost respect for the uniqueness of intrastate rivalries because they help make our game great. Everyone involved in our school community deserves to do better. you will get it from me
Harmer, who has nothing to do with college, passes by British Tar Heel on TwitterHe has since taken the podcast private on his YouTube channel and removed the original teaser clip from his Twitter feed.
This is the second time Banhart, in his fourth season with Tar Heels, has angered Wolfpack fans. They downplayed it when they described Reynolds Coliseum as “it’s a small gym, so it won’t take long to sell out” on the eve of their victory over UNC in January.
The ACC has yet to release a schedule of meetings, but Banghart’s comments could add a little spice to UNC-NC State’s first game of the season. Banhart is 2-4 against the pack in his three seasons and he is 0-3 in Raleigh.
This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 9:02 PM.
CL Brown covers the University of North Carolina for The News & Observer. Brown has more than 20 years of reporting experience, including her writing assignments at Indiana University and the University of Louisville. After an extended residency at his APSE award-winning Louisville Courier-Journal, he stopped by his ESPN.com, his The Athletic, and even tried his hand at running his own website, clbrownhoops.com.
