Tar Heels to Talk to Doherty, Brown By DICK WEISS Daily News Sports Writer ime for Plan B. Roy Williams may have spurned the University of North Carolina to stay at Kansas, but Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, the point man on the Tar Heels' search committee, still has other options. Matt Doherty is one. He has been at Notre Dame for only a year but postponed a trip to the Nike summer camp to fly to Chapel Hill, where he will interview with North Carolina officials today. Smith also has called and received permission from Philadelphia 76ers owner Pat Croce to speak with Larry Brown. Doherty, 39, from Holy Trinity (L.I.) High School, was a starting forward on Carolina's 1982 national championship team. He coached the Irish to a 22-15 record, with wins over five ranked teams, and an NIT bid. He also convinced 6-10 All-America forward Troy Murphy to stay for his junior year. Doherty met with his players and staff yesterday, informing them of his plans. It is hard to tell how Murphy will react if Doherty leaves. Brown, 59, another Carolina grad and close friend of Smith, has been a nomad, but he coached UCLA to a Final Four in 1980 and Kansas to the 1988 national championship. He is considered one of the best coaching minds at any level of the game. Brown has been with the Sixers three years. He makes $5 million a year, considerably more than Carolina can afford, but money may not be an issue. Brown loves the Research Triangle area and has often said coaching Carolina was one of his fantasies. A third potential candidate, Eddie Fogler of South Carolina, withdrew his name from consideration late yesterday. What do you think Keeley? I think he will leave Notre Dame. Hope I'm wrong. ------------------ "When your dead, anything's funny."-John Lennon
As a ND grad, God help us. I am personally hoping that Doherty is considered too green for the job. He's done so much for the ND program, even if it is just convincing Troy Murphy to stay. Hopefully, this will pass. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Redglare (edited July 08, 2000).]
Its official now, Doherty is leaving Notre Dame. UNC settles on Doherty Carolina considered several names Discuss: The UNC coaching situation College front page CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Matt Doherty, a starter on North Carolina's 1982 national championship team, was hired as the Tar Heels' coach Tuesday. The school said it will introduce Doherty, the coach at Notre Dame, at an evening news conference. Doherty became a leading candidate after last Thursday's decision by Roy Williams not to take the job at his alma mater. The Irish went 22-15 and finished second in the NIT last spring in Doherty's one year as coach. Bill Guthridge, Dean Smith's longtime assistant, retired as Carolina coach June 30. Notre Dame is screwed now. At least we still have Murphy. ------------------ "When your dead, anything's funny."-John Lennon
I know Doherty has only been at ND for a year and that UNC is his dream job (alma mater and the place where he won a national championship as a player) but I can't help thinking that Doherty is a big sellout to ND. UNC was also the dream job of Roy Williams who turned it down cause he established himself at Kansas. Doherty turned ND in the right direction and probably could have been the Roy Williams or Dean Smith of ND. Now he goes to a place where there's lots of pressure and he will forever be compared to Dean. I say Doherty is gone in a couple of seasons at UNC. ------------------ It's all good!
I am not terribly pleased by it, and I wanted him to stay as bad as you did, RedGlare, but... all the best to Doherty. I can't bring myself to hope he does badly, he did more for ND in 1 year than Digger and McLeod had done in the last 10. [This message has been edited by keeley (edited July 12, 2000).]
It will take a lot more sellouts of ND before it will ever even out relative to the coaches who have sold out other schools due to ND's doings. ND isn't an elite BB program anyway and Doherty will get to be in Chapel Hill (the city, school, climate). It was a no brainer for him, though I agree it will be a different test for him as a coach and recruiter that he may not pass. ------------------ "The Rockets were ahead of the Suns by 20 late in game 2 of the series, but when the going got tough, we just Pippened . We would not be done in the series though."
Sir, you have to back up what you said. I can't think of any coaches that sold out a school to become head of a major (or any) sport at ND. ND has courted some big names, but they haven't gotten their hands on any to this point. As a matter of fact, now it's 3 big time coaches (Women's Soccer, Men's Hoops, and Men's Baseball) that ND has lost in the last 7 years or so that have "sold out" (sic) for greener pastures (UT, UNC, and ASU). I agree with the notion that Doherty is going home, etc., and that is OK with me. Thus I don't think that the ND people thinking that they got screwed are in the right by any means. Your comment about Notre Dame not being an elite BB school is true, at this point in time. However, ND was an elite program for quite a long time until recently. Matt Doherty signalled a return to that time, and it stings that he's gone. I don't blame any of these coaches for leaving, whether they're tied to the places that they're going or they see it as a challenge - no matter what reason. But just saying that Notre Dame is usually the one pulling the carpet out from under other schools is flat out wrong. Simple as that. ------------------
Fair enough Keeley, my Notre Dame blinders because of a few cotton bowls (versus Earl, UH) and other events (undeserved Hiesman trophies) are as bad my Jazz blinders. You know how the saying goes, my two favorite teams are ____ and whoever is playing Notre Dame. Although I thought they did left the Gophers high and dry when taking Holtz and I didn't think they treated Holtz well (after he rebuilt the program) when showing him the door. I am not an expert on these matters though.
No problem, Sir. But stop while you're only so far behind. Name an undeserved Heisman, and I can name two Irish players in the last ten years that were beaten by less deserving players. Tim Brown was 10 times more legit than Gino Toretta in '92 (Reggie Brooks) and Ty Detmer in '90 (Rocket Ismail) combined. I have much less beef about 1992, as either Hearst or Faulk should have been the winner. Reggie Brooks wouldn't have felt slighted had one of those two one it. I am with you in that I think that they treated Holtz appallingly for all that he had done for that program. They ran him out of town for... Bob Davie?!? As far as the Cotton Bowls - I can understand much better, though! It sucks to be on the losing end of that - I was at a game in '91 when Tennessee came back from a 31-7 HT deficit at ND stadium. And a few other debacles as well. Be careful of those blinders! [This message has been edited by keeley (edited July 12, 2000).]
Keeley, my personal belief is I have never seen a reciever get a Heisman they probably should have. Desmond Howard was the worst--he wasn't even the best receiver that year (Carl Pickens was), Tim Brown was another (probably Lo White or Thurman Thomas should have won for that year if I recall). Giving the award to C. Woodson was an complete embarressment over Manning too (no I am not a Vol fan either). Those mid-westerners like to stack the deck for their guys bigtime. I do agree Gino was a joke as well though, Heart and Faulk were both totally awesume and dominant forces. However, Ty Detmer was deserving as he was a tremoundous college player, Eric Bienemy would have been the next logical choice that year as he was a very tough college player. Just because you don't make it in the pro's, doesn't mean you weren't the best college player (e.g., Flutie by all means deserved his award, so did Charlie Ward). ------------------ "The Rockets were ahead of the Suns by 20 late in game 2 of the series, but when the going got tough, we just Pippened . We would not be done in the series though."
I didn't say that Detmer was undeserving, just less deserving than Ismail, IMHO. I see where you're coming from. I've heard many people say that receivers shouldn't win it, and I understand why. Personally I am not that way (obviously enough). One of the problems with the Heisman, just like the MVP in other sports, is that when you get right down to it, it "means" different things year in and year out. Some years they give it to the "best" player, even if someone had better stats. Other years, they give it to the most indispensable player (team X couldn't have won without player Y at position Z). The way I see it, until they can define what those awards really mean, I can go on thinking that receivers deserve it every bit as much as quarterbacks. [This message has been edited by keeley (edited July 12, 2000).]
I think a receiver could win it, or even a defensive player, but I am just saying I haven't seen a great case for it. If a QB or RB is near equivalent in skill & talent, these players simply do more to disrupt an opponent (make more an impact on the whole team in leading that team win--which is what I think the criteria for MVP/Heisman should be). Randy Moss might have been such a player, but no matter how dominant he was he played at Marshall and thus had zero chance. You have to have a publicity machine to win the Heisman (Detmer would be from the least presitigous place in recent memory, but BYU had a lot of national expsure beating the unbeatable Miami team that year and they are know for QBs anyway)--which I also think sucks. ------------------ "The Rockets were ahead of the Suns by 20 late in game 2 of the series, but when the going got tough, we just Pippened . We would not be done in the series though."
Sir - Mike Brey got hired to coach ND last week, and he left a recently-signed seven-year (I think) extension at Delaware to take the job. In the interest of fairness, I wanted to point that out. ------------------
