Doherty's inability to connect with Dallas recruits

[Pony^]

part of undoing at SMU


"Last December, SMU played a basketball game at Ellis Davis Fieldhouse against Jackson State. It was meant to be a victory in two ways: SMU would surely defeat Jackson State, which was 1-9 at the time, and SMU, which partnered with Dallasblack.com for the event, would strengthen its ties to the Dallas area, notably the city, offering $5 tickets and tons of free shirts.

Said Matt Doherty to SportsDay's Kate Hairopoulos before the game: "We're trying to walk to South Dallas and say, 'Hey, we want to partner with you. We want to be Dallas' team. You don't always have to come to us, we'll come to you.'"

Instead SMU lost 59-58. An announced crowd of 1,925 showed up to an arena that seats 7,500. The game was symbolic of Doherty's recently-ended tenure: SMU, the flagship university for the city of Dallas, never fully connected with the Dallas basketball scene under Doherty."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-s ... at-smu.ece

[hoopmanx]

Half the team is from Dallas. Doh's problems were that he's any abysmal teacher, bench coach, and handled the roster poorly. By the end, he did a good job in Dallas

[Pony^]

Half the team is from Dallas. Doh's problems were that he's any abysmal teacher, bench coach, and handled the roster poorly. By the end, he did a good job in Dallas

Read the rest of the article:

"A glance at the SMU roster from this season shows seven players from the Dallas area. But three of them - London Giles, Shawn Williams and Nick Russell - transferred in after spending time at other universities. Another three - Cannen Cunningham, Jalen Jones and Jordan Walker - were freshman.

Last year, SMU had only one active player from the Dallas area on its roster: Robert Nyakundi. The year before that it had three: Nyakundi, Ryan Barbre and Austin Horn. Horn and Barbre have not been on the roster since their freshman seasons.

Though Doherty had clearly recruited the area better in the last year and a half, his failure to connect with the Dallas area clearly hurt him, given that Dallas has arguably the best prep basketball scene in the nation aside from Chicago and Los Angeles. In his defense, SMU has slightly tougher academic restrictions, making it harder for borderline players to gain admission, as North Texas did with Tony Mitchell, and Kimball's Jordan Williams and Garland Lakeview Centennial's Chris Jones, who were both ruled academically ineligible this season.

But when Doherty took over, plenty of people questioned if he'd be able to recruit the Dallas area, specifically the Dallas ISD. Jimmy Tubbs, who coached before Doherty and was fired for alleged NCAA violations, knew the Dallas ISD, having won a state championship with Kimball. His firing also clearly created some bad blood between the Dallas ISD and SMU.

Now that Doherty is out, you have to wonder, will SMU look for a coach with strong Dallas ties? And secondly, with SMU irrelevant on the basketball scene for so long, will Dallas ties even matter?"

[LA_Mustang]

to

[Mitch McConnell]

Someone might want to ask Mr. Dent to check on how many DISD kids those coaches sent to Mr. Tubbs during his two years on The Hilltop. That's partly why he was hired.

I know we lose the perception argument because of that. But IMO this is a part of the story that never never never gets reported.

[SMU 86]

Someone might want to ask Mr. Dent to check on how many DISD kids those coaches sent to Mr. Tubbs during his two years on The Hilltop. That's partly why he was hired.

I know we lose the perception argument because of that. But IMO this is a part of the story that never never never gets reported.

That is why we need a coach with AAU connections and not just Dallas connections.

[EastStang]

DISD coaches lobbied Turner hard to get Tubbs hired, then didn't deliver and then whined that he was fired. The fact is that they carry little if any sway these days over their players. The AAU has them wrapped up with a nice ribbon and of course the AAU coach knows which shoe company is paying which college coach. Can't have a NIke player going to Adidas.

[CalallenStang]

DISD coaches lobbied Turner hard to get Tubbs hired, then didn't deliver and then whined that he was fired. The fact is that they carry little if any sway these days over their players. The AAU has them wrapped up with a nice ribbon and of course the AAU coach knows which shoe company is paying which college coach. Can't have a NIke player going to Adidas.

Yep. You get it

[SMU 86]

DISD coaches lobbied Turner hard to get Tubbs hired, then didn't deliver and then whined that he was fired. The fact is that they carry little if any sway these days over their players. The AAU has them wrapped up with a nice ribbon and of course the AAU coach knows which shoe company is paying which college coach. Can't have a NIke player going to Adidas.

Yep. You get it

Well since we are Nike now I guess we need to hire a coach with Nike connections for sure. But whatever the case we don't need to hack them off.

[CoxBizGrad]

First and foremost, hire the right coach no matter if he has ties to DFW. The bench coaches and recruiters can do that job with the HC closing the deal. Standard practice.