The campus at Chapel Hill is referred to as the University of North Carolina for the purposes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Also nicknamed the Diamond Heels, Carolina's baseball team has appeared in the College World Series eleven times.

After struggling early in his tenure, Smith entrenched the Tar Heels as a basketball powerhouse over his 36 years as head coach.

Davis, who played for Tar Heels from 1988 to 1992 under Smith, also had a lengthy career as an NBA player, and spent several seasons as an analyst for ESPN before being hired by Williams as an assistant coach in 2012.

He became the first African American head coach for UNC men's basketball, and led the team to its NCAA-record 21st final four in the 2021-22 season.

North Carolina is one of the few remaining Division I schools to sponsor a junior varsity basketball team.

Under legendary coach Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina women's basketball had many successful seasons.

Karen Shelton led the Carolina field hockey program for 42 years prior to her retirement following the 2022 season.

Jamie Loeb attended UNC for her freshman and sophomore years (2013–15), during which she became the first freshman in close to 30 years to win both the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championship (making her the NCAA Women's Singles Tennis National Champion) and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship.

[13] In 2015, Olympic bronze medalist and Oklahoma State University graduate Coleman Scott became the team's head wrestling coach.

Mock, Dave Cook, Jan Michaels, Bob Monaghan, Mike Elinsky, Rob Koll, Bobby Shriner, Tad Wilson, Al Palacio, Lenny Bernstein, Doug Wyland, Enzo Catullo, Pete Welch, Shane Camera, Jody Staylor, Marc Taylor, Stan Banks, Justin Harty, Evan Sola, Chris Rodrigues, Evan Henderson, Ethan Ramos, and Joey Ward.

Fisher also went on to become a successful coach for multiple Division I wrestling programs including Iowa State and Stanford.

Also, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on a wrestling scholarship.

Carmichael Arena is currently the home to the Tar Heels Wrestling team, located centrally on campus.

[15] Head Coaches - Thomas Revelle, Emilie Gross Founded 1997/98 season Carolina also fields non varsity sports teams.

The men's crew won the 2004 ECAC National Invitational Collegiate Regatta in the varsity eight category.

In 1994, Carolina's athletic programs won the Sears Directors Cup which is awarded for cumulative performance in NCAA competition.

North Carolina has also competed in the Collegiate Rugby Championship, finishing 11th in 2011 in a tournament broadcast live on NBC.

The Most Notable Alumna being Naya Tapper, Current captain and all time leading scorer for U.S. National Rugby Sevens.

Past distinguished players include U20 National team winger Holly Zoeller (2010–11) and U23 South All-Stars Jessica Meidinger (2011) and Carrie Moss (2010-11).

Callahan winners include Leila Tunnell (2011), Jonathan Nethercutt (2015), Matt Goechoe-Hanas (2019), Anne Worth (2020), and Dawn Culton (2022).

[25] Some say that it was in the late 1920s that it began to be sung as an add-on (or "tag") to the school's alma mater, "Hark The Sound", although the current version of the sheet music for "Hark the Sound" includes the "I'm a Tar Heel Born" tag as an integral part of the alma mater and credits the full song to William Starr Myers with a date of 1897.

[26] Today, the song is almost always played immediately after the singing of "Hark The Sound", even during more formal occasions such as convocation and commencement.

Notable graduates from the athletic programs include Michael Jordan from men's basketball, Mia Hamm from women's soccer, Charlie Justice from American football, Davis Love III from golf, B.J.