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Q&A With SMU Men’s Basketball Coach Matt Doherty
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://www.cusa-fans.com/

DALLAS – SMU men’s basketball coach Matt Doherty sat down on Thursday in his office in the Crum Basketball Center to discuss the Mustangs’ upcoming season, his fourth on The Hilltop. Doherty’s overall record at SMU is 33-58, 10-38 in Conference USA.

The Mustangs finished 9-21 last year, with a league mark of 3-13.

SMU lost just two players from last year’s squad, Bamba Fall (graduation) and Alex Malone (transfer). New additions include junior college transfers Myles Luttman (6-11, 230/San Diego CC) and Rodney Clinkscales (6-1, 190/Dodge City CC), and true freshmen Austin Horn (6-3, 170/Southlake Carroll) and Ryan Barbre (6-1,185/Arlington Martin).

Doherty’s head coaching stints include Notre Dame (1999-00), North Carolina (2000-03) and Florida Atlantic (2005-06). He was AP National Coach of the Year his first year at North Carolina after a 26-7 mark and ACC regular season co-championship. His overall record is 123-129.

Doherty started for North Carolina’s 1982 National Championship basketball team along with Michael Jordan and James Worthy.

SMU opens the 2009-10 season at home on November 13 against South Florida.

Has the new Crum Basketball Center practice facility been everything you hoped for?
“It’s been fun. It’s a nice feeling coming to work each day in a place like this. This is a top-flight facility and people that see it are surprised we have it. It’s comparable to some of the best practice facilities in the country, both college and NBA.”

How about opening with six straight home games this year, including South Florida, Texas A&M and TCU?
“Last year we made our schedule kind of tough with some road games, hoping that we’d get some quality home games this year with a better team. So far, it’s playing out. Hopefully, we execute and get some wins.”

How excited is the team to play in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu in December?
“I think they’re excited. Right now, they’re focused on practice. It’s exciting, then all of a sudden you get in the throes of practice and you’re kind of worried about your aches and pains and balancing school and it seems like the games are far off.”

What if SMU’s football team is there for the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl at the same time?
“We’re going to dominate Hawaii and we’ve got a great tour guide, [SMU football coach] June Jones. Hopefully, that comes to fruition. I think with June’s contacts over there we probably won’t want for parties or for restaurant reservations.”

Your team is more experienced now with a core of 5-11 sophomore guard Paul McCoy, 6-1 senior guard Derek Williams and 6-9 senior forward Mouhammad Faye - last year’s top-three scorers and this year’s captains.
“They’re more experienced, but they’ve still only been here two years. So it would be like most programs relying on sophomores. But we’re much more experienced than we were last year. And that’s been evident in our practices. I think our kids are tougher, their focus is better and, as a result, they’re executing better.”



How do you replace 7-1 Bamba Fall’s team-leading 7.3 rebounds per game?
“I think [6-9, 235 junior forward] Papa Dia is primed to step up his game. He had a very good freshman year. His sophomore year was probably sub-par for different reasons. And I think now he knows that he’s the guy in the post. So I think that’s given him some confidence. I think his maturation process is taking place before our eyes. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a good season.”

How did Faye benefit from playing in Africa this summer?
“I think his level of confidence is higher and his maturity is better. You know, there are a lot of pieces to this puzzle. Maturity comes through a lot of different forms, not only on the floor but the way that they take care of their bodies. Do they go see the trainer on a regular basis? Do they complain about it? … It sounds very small but there are a lot of aches and pains and the more professional you are in the way you conduct yourself the better results you get. And I think that we’re seeing that with Mouhammad, in particular.”

Did sitting out a year after transferring from Georgia Tech hurt Faye’s game last year?
“I think you’d have to ask him but, from my vantage point, having not seen him before, I would imagine there was a lot of rust on his game. He had to sit out a year. He was also injured.”

What about the new faces?
“[Austin] Horn and [Ryan] Barbre are non-scholarship players. I don’t call them walk-ons because we kind of recruited them to come. And [Myles] Luttman, I brought in to really add some toughness and strength to our interior because, with Bamba [Fall] leaving and even with Bamba here, we weren’t as tough inside as I would have liked. Myles is a big strong kid that can run and he plays physically.”

“Rodney [Clinkscales], I felt like we needed to improve our outside shooting and he’s really good shooting. He’s a small two-guard but can really shoot the basketball.”

Will they see playing time?
“Oh, yeah. I think Clinkscales and Luttman will both play. And I think we’ll have a fairly deep team: Frank Otis [6-6, 230 sophomore forward], Justin Haynes [6-5, 192 sophomore forward], Ryan Harp [6-4, 195 junior guard], Mike Walker [6-1, 195 junior guard]. I think we have nine or ten guys who can play.”

Is there specific number of wins you’re shooting for this season?
“I want to have a winning season. Yeah, I’d like to win them all, but I’d like to have a winning record. And I think that’s certainly within our reach with this team.”

What gives you confidence there will be improvement this year?
“I think the maturity of our players. Last year, we had a tough schedule, we had an inexperienced team and we won nine games and probably had another five games we had a lead with ten minutes to go and lost. So we were close to being .500 last year. It didn’t turn out that way, record-wise, but I think that that’s an achievable goal for our team and it should be. I think that we’re in a position to make that move.”



Fans can be impatient. What do say to them?
“When I took the job, I knew it was a long-term deal. I knew that to turn around a program it takes three to five years. This is not a quick-fix institution. Having had experience at Davidson College [as an assistant coach from 1989-92], this is very much like Davidson. It took [head coach] Bob McKillop five years to have a winning season there.”

“So I think we’re in a similar situation to Davidson. We’re actually farther along than they were at that time. It takes patience. And I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that, but that’s why I signed a long-term contract when I got the job.”

“It’s one thing to take over a program when it’s down, like when I took over Notre Dame. But they had some things that were a little bit farther along than [SMU] did.”

What's still missing at SMU?
“I just think the maturity. It’s a process. It’s like, you’re raising children and they’re not ready for algebra until they get to high school. They’re not ready to drive a car until they’re in high school. And I don’t think our guys were ready to win games until they became more mature.”

“Recruiting is not an exact science. Some kids are highly-ranked and don’t turn out that way. Some kids aren’t that highly ranked and are better than advertised.”

“And I think everyone who knows [Conference USA] will tell you it’s a better basketball conference than it is a football conference. Memphis has been one of the elite programs in the country and we’ve had to play them twice [each year.] Tulsa’s a very good basketball program. Houston’s been good. UTEP’s been good. Those are all team’s that we have to play twice.”

“Our football programs are all fairly even. ... On top of that, in football, if you go .500 you have a chance to go to a bowl game.”

Was maturity a factor in your team’s 0-12 road record last year?
“I think that’s a big part. First of all, playing on the road anywhere is tough. There’s a stat out, the home team’s win like 65% of the time. Then on top of that you put an inexperienced team on the road. Then on top of that you’re talking about road games in the Big East [South Florida], the Big Ten [Northwestern] and the Big Twelve [Texas A&M]. … Those are going to be tough games to win, regardless.”

With what things are you most pleased at SMU since your arrival?
“I think this [practice] facility is one. And then, two, I finally feel like we have a core group of guys back. … And our staff, I think we’ve got some guys on our staff that really will help develop our guys - [new assistants] Reggie Brown and Reggie Geary. I really like the makeup of our staff.”

Where does this season fall as far as pressure you’re feeling, when compared to other places you’ve coached?
“There’s always pressure I think you put on yourself. You want every year to be successful. ... I said to the AD when I took the job [at North Carolina], ‘My first year we’re going to be good, my second year, we’re not. And my third year we were going to be rebuilding. Are you able to get through that with me?’ You know, being 8-20, standing in front of the microphone after [losing], that’s not an easy thing to do but I knew we had to go through it.”

“And that’s like the job here. I know you have to go [through it]. I’m not afraid to lose. And why I like to think I’m pretty good at rebuilding programs. You have to have the energy to get through it. … Some coaches are so concerned about their records. I couldn’t tell you what my record is. I really don’t care. I just know that I’m trying to beat South Florida and trying to have a winning season. And I know what it takes to build a program.”

“So this [pressure] is nothing compared to being the head coach at North Carolina. I remember the first game I was coaching there I couldn’t breath the day of the game. I thought my chest was going to explode.”

Do you still have a clear vision of SMU as a winning program?
“Oh, even more now than ever before. I think we’ve got three good recruits committed to us and to have them with the guys we’ve got coming back next year, I feel really good about it. Then the junior class in this area and in the state is very good and we’ll have five scholarships for that class. I’m more confident now than ever before about the direction of the program.”

Thanks for posting! Great interview!

Good read, thank you!

Yes, very good. Seems like it'll be tough to lose Faye and Williams after this year and going with JUCOs was more of a plugging strategy to win immediately vs. building for the long term. Either way, McCoy is a great building block and hopefully the "three good commitments" form a solid nucleus for the future.

Houston is predominately a JUCO/transfer squad too, but they haven't made it to the NCAAs. Maybe this year but it's a tough way to go. Beat the Bulls!