Athletes - Matt Doherty

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	Athletes - Matt Doherty

Matt Doherty (born February 25, 1962) is a college basketball coach. Doherty is currently the head coach at Florida Atlantic University, but is best known for his tumultous three-year stint as the head basketball coach at North Carolina from 2000 to 2003.

Playing career

Doherty played high school basketball in his native New York before being recruited to North Carolina by legendary coach Dean Smith in 1980. Doherty was a four-year starter for North Carolina, and in those four seasons the Tar Heels amassed a record of 117 wins and 21 losses and won the NCAA National Championship in 1982.

Doherty was a late-round draft pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, going to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 119th pick in the sixth round. Doherty never panned out as an NBA player and worked on Wall Street for several years.

Assistant Coaching Career

In 1989 Doherty was hired as an assistant basketball coach at Davidson College by head coach Bob McKillop, who coached Doherty at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, New York. In 1992 Doherty moved to the University of Kansas as an assistant coach under Roy Williams, who was assistant to Dean Smith, Doherty's coach at North Carolina.

Notre Dame

In 1999 Doherty was hired as the head coach at the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had struggled for years, but in Doherty's only season as their coach they posted a 22-15 record and advanced to the finals of the NIT.

North Carolina

North Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge retired in 2000 and it was commonly believed that the job would go to another member of the "North Carolina family" of coaches. The school very publicly courted Roy Williams, who had left North Carolina for Kansas in 1988, but Williams refused the job. After other candidates such as George Karl, Larry Brown, and Eddie Fogler (all North Carolina alumni) refused the job or didn't pan out for various reasons, North Carolina turned to the 38-year-old Doherty to lead the Tar Heels.

Doherty's first season was largely a success as the Heels shot to the #1 ranking in the polls in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule. Fans and players alike seemed energized by his boisterous and in-your-face coaching style, which seemed refreshing when compared to the notoriously low-key Guthridge. (In fact, Doherty received a standing ovation when he was hit with a technical foul in the team's first game of the season.) However, a string of unexpected losses in the latter part of the year set the Tar Heels reeling and even though they finished with an impressive 26-7 record, they made an early exit out of the NCAA Tournament with a second-round upset loss to Penn State.

The 2001-2002 season would not be nearly as enjoyable for Doherty and the Tar Heels as the loss of the previous year's seniors, combined with a roster full of untested freshmen, proved disastrous. The Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 8-20, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1975 and finishing with a losing record for the first time since 1962 (Dean Smith's first year as coach).

In 2002-2003 the Tar Heels rebounded and improved dramatically from their embarrassing 2002 campaign but still fell short of what North Carolina fans had come to expect, finishing 19-16 and earning a berth in the NIT. Throughout the year many players (particularly Sean May) and other program insiders had publicly voiced their displeasure with Doherty and his aggressive style, and fans began to call for Doherty's head on sports talk radio and in the newspapers. On April 1, 2003, Doherty tendered his resignation.

A commonly held (but unproven) theory portrays Doherty as being forced out by athletic officials at UNC in order to make way for Williams, who was tapped to replace Doherty.

After North Carolina

Doherty kept a low profile immediately following his resignation from North Carolina, saying in later interviews that he was "embarrassed" and "humiliated" by the manner in which his dream job had ended. He served as a college basketball analyst on such outlets as ESPN and C-SET over the next two seasons. On April 18, 2005, he was named as the new head basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University.

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