Sarah Haney, who has played key roles at every level of the UNC rowing program, is in her 11th season as the Tar Heels' head coach. After serving as an assistant coach during the 2001-02 season, when she directed the Carolina novice squad, Haney was promoted to the program's top position on July 19, 2002.

"When I joined the UNC club rowing team in 1995, I could never have guessed that seven years later I'd be coaching the varsity program," Haney said. "The reason I wanted this job is to provide students with the opportunity I had at Carolina."

Haney, a 1998 graduate of UNC, helped lobby for the rowing program's elevation to varsity status at North Carolina and lettered on the school's first varsity squad in 1997-98. She served as a volunteer assistant coach at UNC in the fall of 1998 while completing her undergraduate degree. Upon graduating with a double major in English and exercise and sports science, she joined the Carolina staff on a full-time basis for the spring of 1999.

She then spent two years at the University of Wisconsin as assistant coach of the lightweight women's team. Her novices won the Eastern Sprints championship in 2000 and finished second in 2001. Haney returned to UNC as an assistant coach in July of 2001 and directed the team's novice rowers that year.

A native of Southern Pines, N.C., Haney is a graduate of Pinecrest High School, where she captained the volleyball, basketball and softball teams and played on a state championship volleyball team. She began rowing as a North Carolina sophomore and captained the UNC club team in 1996 and 1997.