UNC BBall most disappointing team in '01

[J.T.supporta]

I was reading through some old archives on ESPN and came across this article.

Sure Coach Do lost 4 of his best players, 2 being NFL pro players now, but his second year team was rated one of the most disappointing teams of that year in ALL of sports, not just college.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/readers ... tteam.html

[Stallion]

why do you think we got him from Florida Atlantic. But to be fair he was also considered by some the Coach of the Year at Notre Dame which is really better than all of our Fb and BB Coaches have had on their resume before coming to SMU.

[SMU Football Blog]

why do you think we got him from Florida Atlantic. But to be fair he was also considered by some the Coach of the Year at Notre Dame which is really better than all of our Fb and BB Coaches have had on their resume before coming to SMU.

"Considered by some?" That was the AP. Isn't that a little like saying Shaun Alexander was considered by some to be the MVP of the NFL last year?

[couch 'em]

He was coach of the year during his stint at UNC, not Notre Dame.

[jtstang]

Oops.

[LeeDee UNC]

Doherty's 8-20 season was a major disaster especially by UNC standards. What happened was Doherty got hired late in the 1st year so only was able to really recruit a class and a half by the second. His upperclassmen were, well, not very good as a result of bad recruiting by the previous administration.

After the 8 win year Doherty won, I believe, 19 the next so he turned it around fast. Not to mention that was the freshman class that went on to win UNC, Roy Williams the national championship.

Doherty's resignation/dismissal wasn't about wins. It was management personnel issues - having to turn around a program like UNC's with little experience caused problems.

I wouldn't put much stock in opinions of ESPN and their kind. When they don't know what's going on they tend to make things up.

[CarMichael]

UNC's 8-20 season was actually 2002. In 2001, his first year at Carolina, Matt was National Coach of the Year with a team that exceeded expectations and was AP #1 for a good stretch before fading at the end. The 8-20 season was certainly a disappointment. In retrospect, the big problem was that the only point guard, Adam Boone, had to back the ball up the floor (at that stage of his career) and couldn't make plays. He ended up as a decent 5th-year starter at Minnesota. The 2002 team had a couple of good senior role players who weren't quite up to being go-to guys. The rest of the team were marginal ACC players, although Matt's recruits Jawad Williams and Jackie Manuel, then freshmen, would develop into good players later. The 2002 team was slow overall and lacked post depth. They took a couple of early losses to low-major teams that really shocked the UNC fans.

[Hidden James]

Here's something else to consider: he coached a traditional powerhouse through its worst season ever, perhaps as bad as any of the traditional powerhouses have ever had in basketball, and yet, two jobs later, multiple Tar Heels (this one included) read the message boards of a "football school" in another part of the country just to defend him.

I wouldn't worry about the hire. Ya'll got a good one.

[newoldguy]

Count me with HJ. You need to be patient. You guys are going places, and it is going to be a fun ride.