Doherty In Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

[50's PONY]

Posted on Tue, Jan. 30, 2007



Former Tar Heel rediscovers future

By WENDELL BARNHOUSE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- His playing legacy is the Carolina Blue jersey with the No. 44 hanging on the wall.

His coaching legacy is nearby, the trophy proclaiming him national coach of the year for the 2000-01 season, his first of three in Chapel Hill.

Matt Doherty's future rests on a conference table in his office at Moody Coliseum. It's a white section of cinder block with the words respect, trust and commitment. It bears the signatures of the players and the coaching staff.

Doherty wouldn't be the Mustangs' first-year coach if things had worked out differently at his alma mater. After going 26-7 in Year One, Doherty found himself without a job following Year Three.

"I didn't get a fair shake at North Carolina," the 44-year-old Doherty said. "They had the right to make a coaching change, but I don't think they did it in a respectful manner. They didn't handle it very well, and I think they'd admit that.

"But I made mistakes, too. I'm probably better off for it."

After one year as a head coach (at Notre Dame), getting the North Carolina job at the age of 38 was like a 16-year-old being given a Ferrari and told to drive on the Autobahn.

Doherty was inexperienced, driven and competitive. Despite recruiting the talent that would win North Carolina the 2005 national title (with Roy Williams, Doherty's former boss at Kansas, on the sidelines), Doherty's demands caused a player rebellion that led to his ouster in March 2003.

That could have been the end of Doherty's coaching career... especially if ESPN had offered a three-year contract as a basketball analyst. Doherty and his family were living outside of Charlotte, N.C. Doherty was doing work for CSTV, running basketball camps, dabbling in real estate and enjoying a pressure-free lifestyle.

Who needs coaching?

Doherty realized he did.

To try and find the answer for his failure at North Carolina, Doherty took leadership classes at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, the Bell Leadership Institute in Chapel Hill and the Wharton School at Penn.

"I learned mostly about communication, how to communicate, what to communicate," he said. "Body language is 50 percent of communication, tone is 35 percent, but content is just 15 percent. That [deleted] away."

At SMU, it's RTC -- Respect, Trust and Commitment. Doherty is striving for inclusion, for soliciting opinions from his staff and his players.

SMU, 12-8 and 1-5 in Conference USA, lost at home to North Carolina A&T on Dec. 30. It was the team's second consecutive loss after a 9-1 start. The Mustangs followed the loss with what Doherty assessed was a bad practice.

In his first season at Notre Dame, he had his players run 304 wind sprints while Doherty observed from a folding chair, drinking water.

This time, though, Doherty sought perspective instead of punishment.

"I was mad because I didn't think they weren't working hard enough," Doherty said. "I asked our point guard Jon Killen about the team's psyche. He said, 'Our confidence is shaky.'

"Whoa. We had 24 hours to get our heads right. I talked to the guys at a team meal, told 'em they were good, it's OK to feel a lack of confidence. We made a highlight tape of their best plays and showed it to 'em. We beat Texas-Pan American and had one of our best games."

The message is that Doherty is trying to be in tune with his players while still being demanding.

That's how Steve Orsini, SMU's new athletic director, was convinced Doherty was the right man to lead the Mustangs back to the NCAA Tournament (their last appearance was 1993).

"I don't want to go into details, but the media reports about Matt and the North Carolina situation weren't entirely accurate," said Orsini, who became SMU's athletic director last June. "We felt comfortable bringing in someone I thought was a heckuva coach."

Orsini and SMU President Gerald Turner asked tough questions of Doherty during the interview process. The answers removed any doubts.

"He told me he was a better coach now than he ever was," Orsini said. "He was national coach of the year. Sometimes you've got to be knocked down to get better. He was knocked down and he followed a self-improvement course."

For Orsini and SMU, it was like holding a winning lottery ticket and having the power ball number match.

There were times, though, when Orsini wasn't certain he could convince Doherty that SMU was the place for him.

"I'm convinced that SMU has all the pieces of the puzzle on the table," Orsini said. "We needed someone with Matt's leadership ability to put it together. We want to be top 25 or better in everything we do. That's our goal. Matt saw that or he wouldn't be here."

IN THE KNOW

Doherty year by year


Season School W-L Postseason
1999-2000 Notre Dame 22-15 NIT final
2000-01 North Carolina 26-7 NCAA 2nd round
2001-02 North Carolina 8-20 None
2002-03 North Carolina 19-16 NIT semifinal
2005-06 Florida Atlantic 15-13 None


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wendell Barnhouse, 817-390-7760 [email protected]





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2007 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com

[Dark Horse]

Wow -- really good pub.
Hope there are some stud recruits in FW who read that.