DOHERTY HIRES NEW ASSISTANT

[SoCal_Pony]

Well when the SMU coach's name you are inserting is a former headcoach at UNC and ND as well as a former COY I tend to trust his judgement. But I guess thats foolish of me to think because you don't agree right?

MI,

This has nothing to do with what you or Stallion think. It has everything to do with what Top D1-A programs think. Doesn't mean Lutz can't be successful...but it is a very legitimate point made by Stallion, especially given the fact that a supposed condition of MD's hiring was that we pay our assistants more $$$.

CP poises a good question. For those who closely follow Texas Hoops...how well connected is this Lutz fellow???

[CalallenStang]

Is SFA a d-2 school in basketball as well as football?

Jt...SFA is Division I-AA in football, meaning they are Division I in basketball. They are members of the Southland Conference, home to schools such as Sam Houston State, Texas State, Northwestern (La.) State, and UT-Arlington.

I don't know anything about this Lutz guy or the SFA basketball team, but I'll trust Doherty's judgement on this one.

[PK]

MI,

This has nothing to do with what you or Stallion think. It has everything to do with what Top D1-A programs think. Doesn't mean Lutz can't be successful...but it is a very legitimate point made by Stallion, especially given the fact that a supposed condition of MD's hiring was that we pay our assistants more $$$.

Not sure that just because he can pay his assistants more means that every assistant is going to be paid top dollar. Do you have some personal knowledge to make you think that he is going to pay this new hire a huge salary?? I would wonder at this point in the year, how many high price assistants are really looking to move to a new school.

[itsaputon]

I doubt too many people were fired up about Doug Wojcik as an assistant at Notre Dame when Matt was first hired there. However, he quickly became one of the hottest young coaches in the college game and is currently entering his 2nd year as head coach at Tulsa. Another example is Rex Walters who had only two years of Div 1 coaching experience before Matt hired him as Associate Head Coach at FAU. He is entering his first year as head coach. I believe Matt has hired 10 assistants prior to his becoming head coach here, and all are still coaching at the Division 1 level. It could be argued that his ability to find undiscovered coaching talent rivals that of his recruiting ability.

[mrydel]

MI,

This has nothing to do with what you or Stallion think. It has everything to do with what Top D1-A programs think. Doesn't mean Lutz can't be successful...but it is a very legitimate point made by Stallion, especially given the fact that a supposed condition of MD's hiring was that we pay our assistants more $$$.

Not sure that just because he can pay his assistants more means that every assistant is going to be paid top dollar. Do you have some personal knowledge to make you think that he is going to pay this new hire a huge salary?? I would wonder at this point in the year, how many high price assistants are really looking to move to a new school.

The additional money for assistants may not have been for higher salaries, but rather more assistants. If Lynch is a strength coach, is that not a new position that needs to be paid? The whole increased salary thing may have been for numbers rather than high $$$ coaches. This is not a comment on Lutz or Lynch but rather just a thought on how this "more money" is being spent.

[The PonyGrad]

For the information of the board, at the end of last season SFA was rated by Sagarin as the #211 major college BB team. For comparison SMU was #198. Teams below SFA include Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, and TCU.

[PK]

For the information of the board, at the end of last season SFA was rated by Sagarin as the #211 major college BB team. For comparison SMU was #198. Teams below SFA include Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, and TCU.

Just for an idea of what that means, how many Div-1 BB teams are there? It is over 350...right?

[CalallenStang]

Wikipedia has the number at 334.

[The PonyGrad]

Sagarins ratings are also based on 334.

[CalallenStang]

For the information of the board, at the end of last season SFA was rated by Sagarin as the #211 major college BB team. For comparison SMU was #198. Teams below SFA include Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, and TCU.

This is interesting info. I don't put too much stock into Sagarin's ratings, but that gives some insight into SFA's success on the court. To get a #211 power rating from the Southland Conference is quite a feat.

[The PonyGrad]

So the point is that the players he has recruited are no just lowend players but equivalent to our players. Of course we are hoping for a upgrade in that.

[carolsmu]

Did the new guy replace James Stafford as one of the assistants? Stafford seems to have been removed from this site:

http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/m-ba ... staff.html

[Hal]

I would bet that's a mistake. Doherty wouldn't have brought Stafford from Florida if he didn't intend to keep him.

[giacfsp]

I'm betting Coach Lutz is on board because of recruiting connections -- in Texas high schools, and in junior college. He spent a year at Garden City (Kan.) Community College, which may be where he first met Coach Doherty.

Welcome to SMU, Coach Lutz!

[Ponymon]

Met Coach Lutz while checking my kid into the dorm at SMU for basketball camp this week. Seemed like a great guy. I didn't realize he was the new coach because he was so youthful. I hope to find out more about him tomorrow when I go over to watch the final games of the camp and pick up my kid.