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Matt Doherty
No one expects Southern Methodist to reach the Final Four. But more is expected out of a coach like Doherty than back-to-back 20-loss seasons and sitting in the cellar of the C-USA standings.

He was the 2001 AP coach of the year at UNC and has won at Notre Dame and even Florida Atlantic. SMU athletic director Steve Orsini said last March that he wasn’t sweating the Mustangs’ won-loss record, but he’s also the guy who hired Doherty. To ditch him after just four years would require another horrid year and a promising candidate ready to step in. Consider this Doherty’s last “freebie” season.

Hot seat: Warm

http://beyondthearc.msnbc.msn.com/archi ... 97923.aspx

Even though I don't believe that Coach Doherty gets canned before his contract expires, I do agree that he is on a hot seat... This is the season where the team needs to show some serious improvement, especially in C-USA play. I'm excited to see some decent teams come through Moody this year though...

But Steve’s never fired anyone that hasn’t produced. Yea more than hot.

it's not remotely hot, yet. Orsini doesn't want to axe his first big revenue hire, and some of the issues revolving around the program were as much his as Doh's.

PonyDoh wrote:it's not remotely hot, yet. Orsini doesn't want to axe his first big revenue hire, and some of the issues revolving around the program were as much his as Doh's.

What issues are you referring to?

mustangxc wrote:

PonyDoh wrote:it's not remotely hot, yet. Orsini doesn't want to axe his first big revenue hire, and some of the issues revolving around the program were as much his as Doh's.

What issues are you referring to?

I'm going to be honest, I'm not comfortable discussing too many specifics in a free forum. I will say that both he and Doh were quite green to the ways of the local grassroots scene in the wake of Tubbs. An experienced AD would have navigated through a growing pain or two. It's one thing to support your hire, it's another to provide specific useful guidance to help navigate land mines.

looks like you know a lot that cant be shared in this forum

indianmustang wrote:looks like you know a lot that cant be shared in this forum

public forums are the great unwashed.

Orsini was a football guy from the jump and Doh was far from a creative or insightful hoops hire. Doh was a safe, "corporate" choice by SO. He hoped Doh would and could handle the whole show. Not surprising that landmines were stepped in, it was highly predictable and in fact predicted by many. I think Doh gets a 5th year almost no matter what. Recruiting is looking much better so we'll see.

There is little question that Doh gets his full 5 years. This is based on $$$$$ reasons, recruiting stability and giving him a chance to succeed. My personal opinion is that he is truly on the hot seat if he does not have a top quality player(s) signed during the early November signing date and I am not aware that he has such a player(s) ready to commit. If he does not get such a high quality player(s) locked up in November, the chances are very high that he will not be able to secure/sign the caliber of players needed in 2010 to appreciably impact the talent level and improvement of the team. This is the recruiting year that he needs to earn a chance to stay around.

PoconoPony wrote:There is little question that Doh gets his full 5 years. This is based on $$$$$ reasons, recruiting stability and giving him a chance to succeed. My personal opinion is that he is truly on the hot seat if he does not have a top quality player(s) signed during the early November signing date and I am not aware that he has such a player(s) ready to commit. If he does not get such a high quality player(s) locked up in November, the chances are very high that he will not be able to secure/sign the caliber of players needed in 2010 to appreciably impact the talent level and improvement of the team. This is the recruiting year that he needs to earn a chance to stay around.

You do not consider Leslee Smith to be a "top quality player ready to commit"?

mustangbill67 wrote:

PoconoPony wrote:There is little question that Doh gets his full 5 years. This is based on $$$$$ reasons, recruiting stability and giving him a chance to succeed. My personal opinion is that he is truly on the hot seat if he does not have a top quality player(s) signed during the early November signing date and I am not aware that he has such a player(s) ready to commit. If he does not get such a high quality player(s) locked up in November, the chances are very high that he will not be able to secure/sign the caliber of players needed in 2010 to appreciably impact the talent level and improvement of the team. This is the recruiting year that he needs to earn a chance to stay around.

You do not consider Leslee Smith to be a "top quality player ready to commit"?

not to mention Alaiksei Patsevich in '11.

You do not consider Leslee Smith to be a "top quality player ready to commit"?[/quote]

not to mention Alaiksei Patsevich in '11.[/quote]


Smith is obviously a quality player and I am pleased, although somewhat surprised, he committed to SMU. I was also not aware that Smith was on the radar until the last several weeks and neither were most of the people on this board. I still find it surprising that we are elated to be battling WKU for talent. Never-the-less, Smith appears to be the type of kid necessary to start turning the program around. Welcome to SMU Leslee Smith. Doh still needs 2 more high quality kids to salvage the 2010 recruiting class.

As far as Patsevich is concerned it appears he is a quality talent; however, it is a long year and it remains to be seen if he can learn English, qualify academically, stay committed and whether or not he actually makes it on campus. ( Just take a look at our 2009 football recruiting class where 6 ( as I recall ) never qualified and they all spoke English, went to US schools and knew what was at stake to qualify academically.) Hence, I still consider Patsevich to be a long shot.

Anyone else remember this kid? Jared Dubois. Looks like he had a great freshman year at LMU. Backcourt combo of him and McCoy would have been nasty for four years. check it out

At LMU...
2008-09... grew into one of the top freshman in the WCC. For his efforts, he is one of five freshman to be named to the All-WCC Freshman Team, the conference released on March. 2. He finished the regular season with 417 points, becoming the first freshman to hit 400 in school history. He also smashed the school record for points in a game by a freshman with 39 in the win over Cal State Bakersfield (Jan. 4). In terms of freshman records, he also ranks third in scoring average (13.5), tied for fourth in assists with 84, fifth in assists per game (2.71), and fourth in steals (35). On the season DuBois ranked 12th overall and second by freshmen in the West Coast Conference in scoring. He hit 49 three-pointers on the year, giving him 1.58 per game, ranked 8th in the WCC. He is also 10th in the WCC in assists per game.

http://www.lmulions.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/dubois_jarred00.html

WKU has gone to a lot of tourneys in a row...inc. a sweet 16 appearnece 2 years ago and a second round loss to gonzaga last year...

Number 44 all time ranking by ESPN

I agree that Dallas and SMU should be an easy choice, but if you want an easier road to the tourney WKU is the better choice...