Former Tar Heel women's basketball coach renews opposition to sports participation by transgender females

Former UNC Chapel Hill women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell.

Former UNC Chapel Hill women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell on Tuesday renewed her endorsement of a controversial Republican-backed bill that would prevent transgender athletes from participating in girl’s and women’s sports.

Hatchell, who also testified during a House committee hearing on the issue in April, noted that she awarded college basketball scholarships to between 300 and 400 women athletes during her 33-year coaching career, and said that transgender athletes will take college scholarships from cisgender females.

“It’s just plain and simple, because they’re [transgender girls and women] going to be better,” said Hatchell.

Hatchell’s remarks came during a state Senate Education/Higher Education Committee meeting during which House Bill 574, the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” was debated. The bill received a favorable vote and was re-referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

HB 574 and its companion, Senate Bill 631, would prevent transgender girls and women from participating in middle school and high school sports as well as college athletics.

College coaches concerned about retaining their jobs will be forced to recruit transgender women to compete against schools that award them scholarships or allow them to compete against cisgender women, Hatchell said.

“If you want to win and another team has a transgender and that person is dominating, what are you going to do?” Hatchell asked. “You want to keep your job — you’re going to recruit a transgender.”

Hatchell coached the Tar Heels from 1986 to 2019. She resigned in 2019 after an investigation uncovered that she made racially insensitive remarks and pressured players to compete while injured.

Both HB 574 and SB 631 have been roundly criticized by Democratic lawmakers and civil rights and equality advocates who contend denying transgender athletes the right to compete will harm them mentally and physically and deprive them of the many benefits participating in sports offer.

Critics also argue that the number of transgender female athletes is comparatively tiny.

“What we’re talking about in many cases is a middle school student who is likely on puberty blockers, living as a girl, using a female name and pronouns and just wants to play on her middle school team,” said Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat. “This is targeting her in a way that is mean-spirited and unfair and will do damage to her in a way that makes me very sad for our state.”

The legislation has received strong support from groups on the religious right. John Rustin, president of the conservative North Carolina Family Policy Council, said cisgender women athletes deserve to compete on a level playing field.

“To pretend that there are no biological or physiological differences between boys and girls is simply ignoring science, biology and the truth,” Rustin said.

The NC High School Athletic Association allows transgender athletes to participate in athletics after undergoing a lengthy eligibility process. There have been 17 requests from transgender athletes since the policy was adopted in 2019. Sixteen of the requests were approved.