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Doherty accepts SMU offer
The Conference USA school could make the annoucement today.
By Marcus Nelson

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 24, 2006

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic basketball coach Matt Doherty accepted an offer Sunday from Southern Methodist University to become the Mustangs' new coach.

FAU assistant coach Rex Walters confirmed the hiring and said the announcement could come as early as today.

Doherty met with SMU President Gerald Turner on Sunday and accepted the offer, the Dallas Morning News reported. Doherty also is scheduled to meet with SMU's 18-member search committee for final approval of the deal offered last week by incoming Athletic Director Steve Orsini.

Doherty did not return a message left on his cellphone.

Reached Sunday night, FAU athletic director Craig Angelos said barring any last-minute problems he believed Doherty would be SMU's head coach.

"I got the impression the terms were coming together for them, but I don't know for sure," Angelos said. "I think they are angling for an afternoon news conference. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen."

The financial package, which will be reviewed by SMU's search committee today, is believed to include a $600,000 annual salary.

Doherty's salary this year was $171,000 and he was to get annual raises for the duration of the seven-year contract, Angelos said. The deal also included a clause where Doherty would have to pay $200,000 to be released from the deal until he coached his second season.

FAU junior guard Kevin Green, who was signed by Doherty last season, had no comment on the report

"It would surprise me, but I can't comment on anything like that," Green said.

Green said the last time he spoke to Doherty was at a team dinner Thursday night.

"We didn't really talk about him leaving. We just talked about what kind of season we had," Green said.

Doherty led the Owls to a 15-13 record this season. The search for FAU's next coach will begin today.

"I haven't talked to anybody because we still have a coach, but if it does come to fruition, I'll meet with (FAU President Frank Brogan) and chart a course. We'll move as quickly and as carefully as we can."

Among the potential candidates will be Walters, who said he is interested in the job. He was the first hire made by Doherty when he arrived on campus last year.

"I would like to continue what we've started here," Walters said.

FAU also could be interested in former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, who is an adviser to St. Thomas University as it revives its basketball program.

The Mustangs were 13-16 last season in their first season in Conference USA. Former Mustangs coach Jimmy Tubbs was fired this month after an internal report uncovered several minor NCAA violations after two years on the job.

*This was on the front page of MY sports section this morning. Granted, I know it was because FAU is in Palm Beach County, but it was still pretty surreal to read about SMU athletics in Florida.

PS. FAU gets pretty decent pub from the Palm Beach Post as "the local team."

Good stuff - thanks for the story!

SMUPhil wrote:The Mustangs were 13-16 last season in their first season in Conference USA. Former Mustangs coach Jimmy Tubbs was fired this month after an internal report uncovered several minor NCAA violations after two years on the job.

Even Doherty's own hometown paper knows we got nothing more than burgers and Cheer on Tubbs.

No, the paper said the dismissal happened after minor violations were found. It doesn't say the dismissal happened as a result of those violations and nothing else. SMU has said that the burger and detergent were not the sum total of what was found, and that standing on their own, those two would not be cause for termination. The NCAA will release its findings, and perhaps there will be more specific information there, and perhaps there won't. Right or wrong, it's done -- let it go. It's time to celebrate Coach Doherty's arrival. He's got to be the only coach SMU has ever hired in any sport who has a National Coach of the Year award, right? In fact, could he be the highest-profile coach SMU has ever hired?

Welcome to Dallas, Coach Doherty!

$600,000....so is that double what Tubbs was making? Does this mark a significant change in the approach of the athletic department to what it is willing to do to be successful?

I don't remember if it was posted or not, but how does Orsini's salary compare to Copeland's?

abezontar wrote:$600,000....so is that double what Tubbs was making? Does this mark a significant change in the approach of the athletic department to what it is willing to do to be successful?

I don't remember if it was posted or not, but how does Orsini's salary compare to Copeland's?

That may be more than Bennett makes--are we a basketball school now???

When Coach Bennett wins consistently, Orsini has shown he'll pay a coach. He has no need to be worried. If he doesn't win, he'll move on, anyway. So all he has to do is win, and the payday will follow.

Per calvin:

"Doherty was offered a yearly salary of $600,000 if incentives are met"

I trust Calvin more than the Palm Beach Post writer, so Doh only gets $600,000 if he achives goals. I like it.

PonyGirl wrote:When Coach Bennett wins consistently, Orsini has shown he'll pay a coach. He has no need to be worried. If he doesn't win, he'll move on, anyway. So all he has to do is win, and the payday will follow.

Doherty hasn't won consistently at SMU, why pay him so much?

jtstang wrote:Doherty hasn't won consistently at SMU, why pay him so much?

"$600,000 if incentives are met"
we don't know what those are incentives are, we don't know what he makes yet......but I assume we will know soon enough........

Phil Bennett is 11-35 in his first and possibly last HC job. MD was successful at Notre Dame and, although results were mixed at UNC, he brings national name recognition and a National Coach of the Year award with him. (Orsini's last two hires have been George O'Leary and Matt Doherty - he's not fooling around - I'd be squirming if I were PB.)

jtstang wrote:Doherty hasn't won consistently at SMU, why pay him so much?

We're paying in part for his Kansas/Notre Dame/UNC pedigree and in part for his name recognition.

Am I right that he immediately joins John Calipari as the highest-profile coaches in C-USA? Not bad, not bad!

ClassOf81 wrote:

jtstang wrote:Doherty hasn't won consistently at SMU, why pay him so much?

We're paying in part for his Kansas/Notre Dame/UNC pedigree and in part for his name recognition.

Am I right that he immediately joins John Calipari as the highest-profile coaches in C-USA? Not bad, not bad!

So you disagree with the person who said we're paying him more than Bennett because he wins consistently but Bennett doesn't yet?

Not necessarily. Obviously he has a higher winning percentage, but he had astronomically better players at ND than Coach Bennett inherited here, and that level jumped again when he went to Carolina. If Coach Bennett had taken over a team with the talent of .... maybe an Oklahoma State (good but not USC-loaded), what would his record be? Impossible to say. So of course you're right, to a degree. But I stand by the idea that we're also paying for that Coach of the Year award, that time learning under Roy Williams at Kansas, that time playing with Jordan and Perkins and Worthy and those guys he was able to attract to Chapel Hill.

Some of each, in other words.

okay, children, we're splittin' hairs here. Let's move on.....