Comments on: THF Countdown #7: 1984

By: HeelYeah

HeelYeah — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:47:43 +0000

One thing about this team that I forgot. This was Cecil Exum’s senior season. Exum is the only men’s basketball number to be retired at my alma mater, Southern Wayne High School. Go Cecil! Isn’t he coaching in Australia now or something?

By: robuck

robuck — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:15:29 +0000

hmm… perhaps the proper way to Refer to Mr. Doherty is to call him Matt Doherty when referring to his playing days and Doh!! when referring to his coaching days.

For all the word that have been written over the years about the man, I firmly believe that he knows how to coach and he knows how to recruit. Now, for the off-court stuff (both with players and staff)… that’s what got him in hot water. I’m sure he learned from those mistakes while at Carolina and will end up much the better administrator for it. Not that he’ll ever end up back in Chapel Hill, but I can certainly see him successfully running a program at a major-conference school before he calls it quits.

By: Wilf

Wilf — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:51:15 +0000

“I sure hope if there is bitterness with him and UNC, it is reconciled with time, and UNC can once again become a favorable part of his life.”

Well said, I second the motion….

By: JBowling

JBowling — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:25:15 +0000

And yes again Wilf, he would have had much more of a support system if he’d let others get involved. I am usually not in support of that, but with him being such a young coach and only a few years under his belt, it would have been the wisest thing to do, unlike Roy, who has coached a major program before with success, and really needs no one.

By: JBowling

JBowling — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:23:11 +0000

You are right Wilf, he did botch an opportunity. An opportunity he wasn’t ready for, and Dick B should have known that. Yes, I’d like to keep the coaching staff in the family, but I think it is borderline foolish to do so when other, and better coaches are available. But, given what Doherty came in with, and what he left us with in terms of talent, he did a fair job. If he was left with a good measure of young recruits, he may have faired better. He did leave Roy with a good young class, unlike what he was left with when he came in, and already having that class aided in Roy being able to get that championship in 05. I wish the best of luck to Matt Doherty. It is my hope that he is able to rebuild somewhere and have a good program. I sure hope if there is bitterness with him and UNC, it is reconciled with time, and UNC can once again become a favorable part of his life.

By: Wilf

Wilf — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:09:13 +0000

I can’t disagree about the recruiting being a factor, but the problems I saw with Matt was cleaning house, including some office staff and the assistant coaches, and his failure to use Coach Smith to help him along. I know he wanted to be his own man, but all that is foolish. So, when the players revolted he didn’t have much of a chance, and any support.

I’m not ever really ashamed of this part of Carolina Basketball, but I feel bad for Matt that he botched a good opportunity. It was all handled so wrong.

By: Santiago

Santiago — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:30:11 +0000

Type his name out: M-A-T-T D-O-H-E-R-T-Y, as I think we’ll hear about him again a little later in the countdown.

Thanks to HeelYeah for typing all that stuff about “Doherty, The Coach” and saving me the trouble.

THF has an addiction to the “Green Tea” photo. I have an addiction to apologizing for the Doherty Era. We all have our cross to bear.

By: JBowling

JBowling — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:04:29 +0000

I agree exactly with your thoughts HeelYeah. And without Doherty, there may have been no national title in 05 as well. Yes the program sucked for a while, but if Guthridge had any recruiting ability, we may not have been in the 8-20 as well. That team was a bunch of young talent, and Roy may not have been able to do a WHOLE lot better with them too. I imagine any team under Roy will never go 8-20. But I think that Matt would have turned that team around as well, albeit, probably without a National Title. I am in no way ashamed of Doherty and our program during that time. Yes, Dick B is to blame somewhat of what happened. There were other good coaches outside the family that WOULD have been able to give us a better record than what we had. But Doherty did bring the cream of the crop to UNC before his departure. We should be thankful for that, and let him leave with a good measure of dignity.

By: HeelYeah

HeelYeah — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:55:19 +0000

I’ve never really been too ashamed of Doherty. Granted he was at the helm when we had our worst season ever, and he clearly had some issues, but I’m not ready to forget him as a player or a coach. Certainly I’d like to forget some of the games we played during his tenure, but everyone was on the Doherty bandwagon when he started. I know that I was. He got in over his head, and we can’t really blame him for that. I know that if UNC had called me up to coach, I’d have been right there as well. Yet when things fell apart, everyone dropped him like he was radioactive. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been let go, but I think he got part of a bum rap.

I probably blame Baddour more for hiring an unproven coach to head the nation’s best basketball program, just so he could say he ‘stayed in the Carolina family’. And remember, Doherty is part of the Carolina family, so he deserves better than what some of us are prepared to give him.

But of course, 8-20 is a tough pill to swallow, and if there had been no Matt then there would be no Roy

By: Wilf

Wilf — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:52:26 +0000

I think about M___ D____ like this: I really felt OK about him coming in. He had done a good job at the catholic school and I thought he would be in a position to get some real help from Coaches Smith and Gut. After that I have forgotten the rest; such things could have never really happened?

So, I agree, let’s fondly remember the player. And not hash out that bad sitcom, “A Coach’s Tail”.