Matt Doherty

[BigEasyPony]

Doherty had a a tough time at UNC, but he would be a great fit at SMU. Of course it's irrelevant, but if SMU were "COMMITTED" they should go in a different direction. Doherty would represent an enormous upgrade over our current HC.

I am sure my discontent over our HC's lack of success is evident. I despise mediocrity and unfortunately that is what exists currently.

[Pony4Life]

Regardless of what we think of our current coach, Doherty is not the answer. Kids hate playing for him. I'll stick with Dement, at least for now.

[OldPony]

Good idea. Let's fire Dement and hire a guy who went 8-20 at one of the premier basketball schools in the country and got fired partially because his players didn't like him. I'll bet he could persuade all of his current players to come to SMU. This makes even less sense than Lavin. Maybe we could get a list of all coaches who failed in their current assignment and ask them to apply.
Dement is our coach for at least another year. This kind of specualtion is counter-productive and makes no sense.

[BigEasyPony]

Fellas,

Don't get so hung up. Is Matt Doherty a great coach? No, but OP you have to dig a little to give the full story. Matt Doherty was 53-43 at North Carolina and 75-58 overall in hi HC career. His average records at UNC was 17.6-14.3 and his average record overall was 18.75-14.5. I think those stack up pretty well to our current HC. Not to mention Doherty was under the tremendous pressure of coaching UNC not the playland of SMU where very little pressure has been applied by our AD. Also, UNC competes in the ACC not the WAC. That's probably not a bad thing that Copeland applies little pressure, but at some point you have to make a move and Copeland appears unwilling to do so.

Just as I have said in previous posts I personally like Mike Dement, but I have grown tired of 15-18 win seasons, no NCAA bids, and miserable attendance. Before you ask the question I flew to Dallas this year for an SMU basketball game (SJSU) so I witnessed the low turnout.

Clearly, Matt Doherty has some issues with his players, but so have most coaches. Having said that it would have to investigated as to the root cause of the problems and if in fact they could ever be overcome. I know this is useless banter, but if you ask any prominent HC in America if Matt Doherty is an excellent HC and they would say yes.

[leadpony]

Can we all please stop thiking that every time a great college basketball coach looses his job that he is the "perfect fit" for SMU. The only perfect fit for SMU is someone who is not highly, and waists great talent but playing too many people.

[This message has been edited by leadpony (edited 04-02-2003).]

[leadpony]

Can we all please stop thiking that every time a great college basketball coach looses his job that he is the "perfect fit" for SMU. The only perfect fit for SMU is someone who is not highly paid, and waists great talent by playing too many people.

[abezontar]

I'm confused, are you saying we only want a physically fit coach? I guess Rick Majerus is out.

[OldPony]

BigEasy- I actually like Matt D. I think he got a raw deal with UNC. If the UNC players don't like Matt, they would have hated Roy Williams. Roy works his kids butt's off and there is only his way or the highway. Matt D is not a proven winner though and is not particualry high profile other than being hired and fired by UNC. His ND team was good but they have gotten better since he left.
I have high expectations of Mike Dement. If he had inherited a program like UNC, he would have definitely been gone with a similar performance as Doherty's. He didn't. SMU's attendance problems started well before his arrival but were masked by SWC fans. It takes a LONG time to build a winner from where he started. Yes- Bobby Knight or Roy Williams or Coach K (Boeheim,Donovan,Olsen, Majerus-he has "waist" talent-etc.) could do it quicker. Last I heard, they weren't available to a school with no tradition or basketball fans.
The "go out and hire a name coach" crowd doesn't seem to understand what a name wants besides money. If only money were important, coaches would go to the highest bidder each year.
I am impatient also. I saw more this year, however, than I have seen out of any team SMU has put on the court since '93 (the 2nd half of this season). Dement has recruited very well for what he has to work with and, although many here think that is "Top" talent, it isn't. I believe it continues to get better and that these guys are capable of getting to the dance. I also believe that continually carping about Dement doesn't help anything. He is definitely here next year. Why not turn these energies to something helpful like selling some tickets, raising some money or helping the program in some manner?

[cowboypony]

Very well stated Old Pony. If SMU wants to upgrade their prosepcts of putting out a top 25 team - which COULD be a reachable goal being in the metroplex - it needs to quit talking out of both sides of it's mouth. Allow our coaches to recruit on the exact same playing field as everyone else and see what happens. Until then, it's like judging a jockey for not beating Secretariat while riding a jack [deleted].

[BigEasyPony]

I'll give you credit for being loyal to Dement and I truly hope that he turns things around at SMU. The reason I want him to succeed is that he coaches my alma mater.

Sometimes you are the toughest on those you love the most and that is why my level of frustration has reached this point. Up until this year I felt Dement was the perfect coach for SMU. After this season I concluded that he wasn't. I think you need to make an assessment about your program each year and my assessment is that SMU will not be better next year than they were this year and this year wasn't good enough. I know there are some silver linings, but in Year 8 of this rebuilding projects we have to get past the idea of brighter future and demand a brighter today.

My intent is not to "bring down" the program, but to give my viewpoint of the current program. I think we can all agree that Mike Dement should be under some serious pressure to produce next year and he should. SMU needs both our support and also needs to feel from us the pressure to perform. Frankly, I'm tired of the excuses of not being able to recruit effectively at SMU. That argument means a lot more in football when you're dealing with 85 scholarships than in basketball when you're dealing with about 15 scholarships. Marquette has made it all the way to Final Four with two (2) difference makers and a solid starting five (5). To my knowledge their roster is composed of no JUCO recruits and a couple of college transfers. When the season begins I will put down my sword and root like hell for SMU to beat every opponent that they face.

[OldPony]

BigEasy- I agree with you and your point was well made. Dement should be under pressure to produce a tourney team this coming year. We have had 3 difference makers under Dement but none at the same time unless you count a hobbled BHop this year. I think we have 1 next year and for the first time at least a very solid, experienced 3 with him. There are those of the group remaining on the team which could develop into the solid 5th player and, I fully expect the bench to be much better next year. While you don't have to recruit as many players for b'ball as football, the competition for those difference makers is intense. I think it is amazing that Dement has pulled off a Sasser, a Q and a BHop with what he has to sell vs places those guys could have gone. Each one that gets to the Bigs from our program makes it that much easier to get the next one. Hopefully, there will be a great player or 2 from the metroplex that wants to play with BHop that will give us a better chance of succeeding. All that said, the pressure is on Dement to succeed NOW. I do know that it takes more than 4 or 5 years to turn around a program which is more restrictive in admittance, has no tradition, no crowds, no crib majors etc. Progress comes in small steps. Those steps have occured. Now is the time for Dement to prove he can coach.

[Fresh]

With Q gone, Dement will face no NCAA pressure, or even NIT pressure, because we don't have a clearly defined go-to scorer.

[OldPony]

I disagree Fresh. This is an experienced team with better depth and a better starting lineup than Dement has had so far. This assumes that the fifth starter plays decently. This is the year the pressure is really on because of 4 starters returning and at least 3 of them were considered very,very good recruits by SMU standards. Only Bhop would have been considered a prize recruit at a top 10 school but Patrick and Eric were guys who had a lot of choices. There were also a lot who would have taken a chance with Isham because of his athletic ability. Isham is a nice surprise and I expect more from him next year as well as the other returning starters. I think Q helped these guys a lot by showing his work ethic and team attitude and that they will assume leadership roles easily.

[mulletmike]

OldPony, I certainly don't mean to make issue w/a a rabid Mustang supporter, but i don't understand your optimism. For example, neither Isham nor Castro were anywhere near Top 100 nationally as seniors in HS. Both are capable players, but they aren't close to differenece makers.

If you truly believe next years squad is the most talented Dement has ever had, it says 2 things. First, we aren't very talented , ever. Second, what is Dement still doing here?If this u=is what he's got, we are destined for serious mediocrity, at best.

Several of the Sasser squads were more talented than next years batch and thats not saying much given the complete lack of frontcourt help those teams had.

Next year, unless B-hop becomes dominant, we have no difference maker. Isham has limited handle, no range, and a limited feel for the game facing the basket. Whats to love, other than his athleticism?

Castro is unathletic and slow. However, he has a feel for the game and an aptitude for his God-given tools. He was an amazing 8th grader, but he's still the same size and the competition has changed. Think of him as a decent part. True contenders bring him off the bench as depth.

For SMU to do anything next year, we need Pat Simpson to get some sack. Sorry, but its true. He's every bit the talent Bhop is , yet gets lost b/c of his lack of assertiveness. No reason he shouldn't be 1st team ALL-WAC. He could easily grab a double double nightly w/some nards.

Simpson and Hopkins are the team and unless either shows remarkable improvement, we are screwed. Simpson needs a change of attitude and so does Hopkins. Unfortunately, in opposite ways,

Unless the frosh are better than advertised or Voc recovers miraculously, we still don't have quality depth.

In short, this teas needs to play as a unit from Day 1. Any lapse of discipline will result in Ls. We just don't have the talent to overlook folks.

That said, no reason to think Dement will get us to be that cohesive a unit, After all, we've never seen it on HillTop in his reign.

[BigEasyPony]

The only way Dement keeps his job next year is if SMU scores at least 18 wins and competes for the WAC title. My gut tells me that he probably has to score a bid with the NCAA or NIT. He has two (2) years left on his current contract so Copeland would have to extend his contract if he intends to keep him so that he wouldn't get killed in recruiting kids. I don't think Copeland wanted to eat two (2) years of a contract this year.

Having said that Dement knows he's in a bind b/c he doesn't have a great deal of talent on the roster (save for B-Hop and Simpson), but the team has played together. I think we'll know very quickly about Dement's future at the beginning of the season. He'll want to load the schedule with some softies, but that will kill his RPI and any shot of a post season bid. I think we all hope Dement can learn how better to coach perimeter defense and one of these frosh turn out to be something special b/c it will be utterly heartbreaking a year from now if the hoops team tanks and Copeland has to finally hire a new coach and we'll hear yet again the famous phrase we've all become tired of: "rebuilding." Ugh.

MEDIOCRITY IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!

GO PONIES!!!