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When Carolina called on Sylvia Hatchell to become the Tar Heels' head coach, the first person she called was Andrew Calder. The two had formed a friendship after encountering each other at basketball tournaments around the South and while chatting in the bleachers at one of them, they had discussed the fact that they both dreamed of coaching in Chapel Hill. In the summer of 1986, they reached that goal and set their sights on new ones. Now in his 22nd year in Chapel Hill, Calder has been an integral part of an NCAA championship and seven ACC titles. He is involved in every part of the Tar Heel program and specifically oversees scouting and player development. It would be hard to fashion a more varied coaching background than Calder's. He has coached basketball, baseball, golf and football. He has coached both genders and all ages. He has coached on the high school, collegiate and AAU levels. And he has coached at UNC legend Dean Smith's summer basketball camp, which is when he first fell in love with Carolina. "It was always a dream to coach at North Carolina," Calder says. "It's such an outstanding university both academically and athletically and it's comprised of great people." Calder grew up in McBee, S.C., where his father, A.J., coached boys and girls basketball, football and baseball at McBee High. Calder followed in his father's footsteps, becoming the girls' basketball coach at McBee in 1979 after earning an associate's degree from Wingate College and a bachelor's in health and physical education at Coker College. In 1981, Calder led McBee to a state championship. Four years later, he came close to another title and earned AAU national coach of the year honors after directing a boys' 19-under team to a national runner-up finish. Before moving to Chapel Hill, Calder spent the 1985-86 season as a volunteer assistant for the men's team at the University of South Carolina. Outside of the gym, Calder's sporting passion is golf. A sometime scratch golfer and currently a four handicap, he lists Pebble Beach and Augusta National as his favorite courses. |
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