DMN: SMU Meets With Doherty

[DiamondM]

My exact response upon seeing the headline: "Oh s**! Oh good God no."

A. If you can't make it with the wealth of recruits, fan support, marketing, money, etc. available at UNC, how do you do it here? I don't like just going out and getting a name when that name couldn't make good on all that promise in places where he had much more in the way of resources and connections than he would at SMU.

B. He's a Tarheel. The thought of having to root for him to succeed just gives me the willies. For me, it would almost, almost be like hiring a high profile TCU grad and former coach. But then, I suppose if I could like Roy Williams while he was at Kansas (my home state -- did not care for Larry Brown though), I suppose, I suppose I could learn to like another Tarheel -- assuming he could actually turn us into a winner.

C. That said, I just wonder if the whole connections thing is a bit overrated. I didn't see anyone saying what great connections Drew has to DISD, and now everyone (i.e. Stallion) is talking about what a great recruiting job he's doing down at Baylor. Or Bob Knight -- I'm not aware of what great Dallas connections he had before going to Tech, but he got Andre Emmett and some other DISD ballers I believe. And I know this is going to make Hoop Fan mad, but Tubbs with the greatest DISD connections we could ever want was not able to produce high profile DISD recruits in his honeymoon years. So worrying about whether the next SMU coach has some pre-established pipeline to DISD recruits is less a concern for me than his actual coaching abilities (which includes a rapport with players, recruits, recruits' parents, assistant coaches, administration, fans, alums, boosters, and media that gets results.)

[abezontar]

His Bio from the FAU site:

http://fausports.cstv.com/sports/m-bask ... att00.html

[EastStang]

Orsini also has ND ties. Perhaps that's why Doherty came to his mind. He would be better than that 95 year old high school coach that I envisioned when this search began and as long as we don't want DISD players (because a white coach will trigger some reaction among those coaches), he would not be the worst choice we might be facing.

[PonyPride]

I've got to admit, FAU makes him sound better on paper than I ever thought he could.

So am I right that the candidates who have been interviewed so far are:

Matt Doherty
Rob Evans
Fran Fraschilla
Rodney Terry

Anyone else that I've overlooked?

[SMU Football Blog]

I've got to admit, FAU makes him sound better on paper than I ever thought he could.

I linked to about five articles on the post-UNC life of Doherty that I think do a much better job of fleshing out Doherty than the FAU bio. He still is very well respected in college basketball circles. Williams went so far as to talk about him in his post-national championship game press conference.

If you didn't catch it, Doherty interviewing at SMU was the first thing mentioned on Channel 8 sportscast at 10pm.

[Duke Blue Blood]

Please tell me that is not the reason you want to hire a coach. LOCAL news coverage? Pathetic. As I said above that is all we will get out of him.
He will be constantly looking for his next job. He is a liar!!! He said he was at FAU for the longhaul and one year later, looking to leave. I know, I know, it is FAU, but we are only one step above them.

Hook

[PonyPride]

Is he "looking to leave"? Or is he particularly tight with Steve-O from their ND days, and merely listening when an old friend comes calling?

[Stallion]

the average fan in DFW would be too confused between Neil Doughtery and Matt Doherty.

[SMU Football Blog]

Please tell me that is not the reason you want to hire a coach. LOCAL news coverage? Pathetic. As I said above that is all we will get out of him.
He will be constantly looking for his next job. He is a liar!!! He said he was at FAU for the longhaul and one year later, looking to leave. I know, I know, it is FAU, but we are only one step above them.

Hook

Yeah, I want to hire a coach solely on the basis of what George Riba thinks. That is really, really important to me. Hopefully, Doherty will hire Newy Scruggs as an assistant coach.

[Duke Blue Blood]

There are no ND ties. Orsini was not there when Matt was.

DBB

[ponydawg]

Since they both went to ND, there are ties......
Close knit Bunch......wish we were.

[93Mustang]

Doherty would be a great hire. As a player, he won a national championship ring with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins while being coached by one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. He then was an assistant with Dean Smith and Roy Williams and coached Kansas to the final four with Roy. As a head coach, he had success at ND and then got the UNC job. His demise at UNC occurred after he recruited the team that ultimately won Roy Williams his first title. Rashard McCants (aka McCancer) and his parents and the parents of several other stars led the firing because they felt Doherty was too [deleted] the players. Doherty claims he has learned lessons from this incident.

Fast forward to 2006. This guy has a better college basketball pedigree than anyone we can hope to hire. While the UNC rebellion makes him "damaged goods" he is still considered an excellent college basketball coach. Moreover, if you don't think this guy knows how to recruit and run a gold standard college basketball program, you're crazy, He learned from Dean Smith and Roy Williams and he played with MJ. He gets it and knows what it takes.

The upgrade from what we've had in the past to Doherty would be incredible. Moreover, we'd get the national attention from ESPN checking in on the fallen star. Don't discount this exposure. Also, don't discount what a ncaa ring and a relationship with MJ could do for recruiting.

[Duke Blue Blood]

Oh my gosh, I must be in Texas.

If you think for one moment, that any of his past team members care one bit about SMU, you are crazy. They may (and do mean may) care what he does, but they also see him as the fraternity brother "that almost got the house kicked off campus". He brought one of the best programs in the nation to its knees. He got no support from any of them at ND, why would they do it now?

If you think that the ND ties are strong with Matt, you are stupid as well. He was there for three years and left on bad terms. That is like saying that Missouri has strong ties to Snyder. NO!!!! Matt is Carolina, Quinn is Duke. When you play at those programs, that is what you are. Look at Roy Boy....came home after he said Kansas was home. No it isn't. Crapel Hill ia home. He wanted to make Deano proud of him.

If Jeff Capel does well at Oklahoma, poor Dawkins will be be sweating it hard after Amaker and Snyder did so poorly.


If we want press, why don't we hire Bliss?

[GrapevineMustang]

Doherty would be a great hire. As a player, he won a national championship ring with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins

They could be his assistants. Think that trio could recruit a player or two?

.... His demise at UNC occurred after he recruited the team that ultimately won Roy Williams his first title. Rashard McCants (aka McCancer) and his parents and the parents of several other stars led the firing because they felt Doherty was too [deleted] the players. Doherty claims he has learned lessons from this incident.

Very good point, so I can't stand Roy Williams, so I do think Doherty deserves all the credit for recruiting the players who carried Little Roy to the title (after all, it sure wasn't his coaching.)

.... While the UNC rebellion makes him "damaged goods" he is still considered an excellent college basketball coach....

Might he be the hoops version of Mike Price or George O'Leary?

[Duke Blue Blood]

Grapevine,

Call me when the drugs wear off.

DBB