DMN: Doherty raises profile of SMU hoops

[RE Tycoon]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... d25b3.html

Not much substance, raises more questions than answers. I was hoping Calvin would mention where the money was coming from or that we already had it. Poor Gerald Ford, he gets hit up for everything (I'd like to have that problem though). I hope we can get our act together before our current big time boosters pass on in the next 10-20 years or we will be in deep [deleted].

[RGV Pony]

Polarizing comment on article:

I noticed Max Williams name was absent from the list of boosters that will be asked to pony up some assistance.

[heeliconoclast]

Long Doherty article
.....
"Doherty heads for Dallas thanks to a Notre Dame alumnus. Former Irish football fullback Steve Orsini, a captain on the 1977 national championship squad and current athletic director at Central Florida, will take a similar position at SMU on June 1. He was in charge of finding a
replacement for Jimmy Tubbs. One of the first people on Orsini's short list was Doherty, who was finishing the first season of a seven-year deal with FAU after spending two years out of coaching.

Doherty learned that the SMU hiring process would move quickly and had little desire to leave FAU so soon. He didn't want it to look like he had taken that job only to pursue another. He didn't want to have his wife, Kelly, pack up their belongings yet again and move their two children, 8-year-old Tucker and 6-year-old Hattie, into yet another new house in another new state. He wanted to build something special in Boca.

Orsini pursued Doherty the same way he carried out his blocking assignments during his college days -- relentlessly. He asked the SMU search committee for Doherty's phone number, then called to promote the position.

"I had a good job; I was happy," Doherty said. "Steve's competitiveness drew me to SMU. He came after me hard."

The SMU vacancy drew national interest from coaches far more experienced. Orsini insists there only was one person to offer a five-year contract worth $400,000 annually and present to the school's 18-member selection committee. You can build this program, Orsini told Doherty, and leave a lasting legacy as someone who helped to drive SMU into the college basketball elite.

"I'd always had my eye on Matt since the Notre Dame year," Orsini said by phone late last week from Orlando. "The first time I met him in person (during the interview process), I never heard anything that didn't tell me that he's a great coach, and he's a great person.

"He was very impressive."
....

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pb ... NDSports03



"After Rex Walters was introduced as Florida Atlantic's basketball coach at a news conference Friday, he was presented with a framed photo of himself on the bench with Matt Doherty, who left FAU this week to coach SMU.

The message was clear.
....


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/con ... _0429.html

[Bergermeister]

"poor" Gerald Ford?

[RGV Pony]

Interesting end to the South Bend article:

"Notre Dame and SMU have not met since 1990, something that Doherty is willing to work on. A home-and-home series could include an early December matchup at the American Airlines Center, home to the NBA's Mavericks."

[BringBackThePonies03]

A great way to raise their profile could be to play teams like Notre Dame, in home and home series. It could be a chance to get some more TV coverage and get the SMU name out a little bit.

[PonyPride]

SMU at the AAC?
Now THAT's a new arena for the Ponies!

[Ponymon]

I advocated that in a previous thread! Makes a lot of sense to me until Moody can be upgraded

[smu diamond m]

I wanna play in the AAC. Oh, the bball team can come too.

[friarwolf]

Regarding fundraising for the new facility, proposals are being presented as we speak to selected alums looking for large donations. This thing is moving fast........