Former North Carolina basketball coach Matt Doherty was fired by SMU today, ending his tenure there after six seasons.
Doherty was 80-109 at SMU, where he never could quite turn the corner. He had only one winning season in his six years coaching the Mustangs, who haven't made the NCAA tournament since 1993 and traditionally have had trouble getting elite players. This year's team -- his last -- went 13-19.
"I understand that this is a business and, at the end of the day, we simply didn't win enough games," said part of Doherty's statement following the firing.
It's hard to imagine that Doherty was the national coach of the year only a decade or so ago at UNC with his first Tar Heel team. He was ousted after three years, but he did recruit the nucleus of the Tar Heels' 2005 national title team.
I've always liked Doherty personally. He's honest about the mistakes he made at UNC (not keeping Phil Ford on staff was one of the big ones) and has a great sense of humor. He also has a temper, which was part of his undoing at UNC.
This firing does call into question how far Doherty will have to go to ever get a Division I-A coaching job again. It's not easy to get a third try once two schools have fired you, although not impossible. Doherty likely will have to go somewhere as an assistant and try to burnish his image there before getting a chance to start over, assuming he wants to stay in coaching.
In other news:
-- Did you see Bismack Biyombo's two-handed block of a dunk attempt that sealed the Bobcats' win over New Orleans Monday night? It was a stunning play, and exactly why the Bobcats drafted "Biz" No.7 overall.
-- I thought the sanctions the NCAA handed down onto UNC's football program were about right. The Tar Heels deserved a one-year postseason ban, I've long thought, because there were just too many NCAA violations on the table under former coach Butch Davis.
It's too bad that innocent Tar Heels (i.e. rising seniors who had nothing to do with the violations) are punished, but the NCAA can't legislate the players who left for the NFL. UNC's primary mistake was not self-sanctioning and banning itself from a bowl last season -- now that penalty will come in 2012 instead.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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6 comments:
"I understand it's a business". C'mon Matt, you're making your UNC brethren cringe. They think it's about bringing in 800 SAT students and turning them into geniuses after a year or two around their oh-so-wonderful program.
He'll be coaching at UNCC in the next few years...are they still considered a Div I school?
Not to be a nitpicker Scotty Doesn't Know, but there is no such thing as Division 1-A in basketball....never has been.
At Anon 3pm, If Doherty will go anywhere in the Charlotte are, it would probably be Davidson as an assistant. Another thing, UNCC men basketball will be good again.
"I thought the sanctions the NCAA handed down onto UNC's football program were about right. The Tar Heels deserved a one-year postseason ban, I've long thought, because there were just too many NCAA violations on the table under former coach Butch Davis."
What about Auburn and known cheater thief Newton getting off the hook with the NCAA for pay for play for the single 2010 fall semester he was there and why they never looked at his grades if he had any or even attended a single class?
Why should UNC be penalized and not Auburn?
MATT WILL LAND ON HIS FEET AND ONE DAY BE ON TOP OF THE COLLEGE COACHES BASKETBALL WORLD.... HE IS DRIVEN AND IS AND ALWAYS WAS A STUDENT OF THE GAME.... ST.JOHNS WOULD BE A GREAT FIT ...HIS OLD STOMPING GROUNDS , NYC !! DREW PEPPE
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