A couple friends of mine have been life long UNC fans. They remind me of deer caught in headlights this season. I followed Matt Doherty while he was at Notre Dame as I lived in South Bend during his very short tenure there. He seemed like a very enthusiastic guy on a mission, however he never really proved himself. ND was really in the dumper and I think he got them to the NIT, (with the help of Troy Murphy) but ND had no where to go but up in the 90's. Just curious, if any UNC fans out there, how many years will the almighty UNC alumni give Doherty to turn this around? Also just wondering how the press is treating him down there. My guess is they have to give him a shot at his own recruitng class, however 20 loss seasons dont come around very often, if ever, in North Carolina!

According to the folks I know in Raleigh/Durham, the NC press is giving him a free pass and blaming the entire debacle on ... BILL GUTHRIDGE! The story seems to be that Doherty can't win because Guthridge left Doherty no one to compete with.
This, of course, would be a more believable explanation if this were Doherty's first year. The talent Guthridge left apparently was good enough for that fabulous start last season, but 2 years later, Guthridge left the cupboard bare. Go figure. And this in a world of college baseketball where the best players only stick around for two years or so. I guess Guthridge also gets the blame for causing the Hindenburg disaster and the San Francisco Earthquake.
Believe it or not there's a power struggle that's been going on down in Chapel Hill for the soul of the basketball program and - get this - Dean Smith's losing. That's why they didn't land a big name like Larry Brown or George Karl. They'd have been Dean's boy.
The AD, Richard Baddour, has the upper hand and Doherty was his boy. This will make it difficult for Baddour to can Doherty. Doherty'll get at least one more year of out-and-out stinking (if that happens, both Doherty and Baddour will be gone). Given the recruiting class UNC has for next year, that likely will not happen. But they might have problems cracking .500. Doherty may get a few seasons of mediocrity before he's canned.
Doherty reminds me of Joe Kerrigan. Put there because he'll let the GM/AD run the program and just be a yes-boy. Doherty's in over his head. If you don't like Tar Heel basketball: let the good times roll!

i totally agree with charlie. guthridge is taking far too much blame for the heels slide.

heck, they have at least three mcdonald's all americans in lang and capel (brought in by guthridge) and jawad williams. there are probably only a handful of programs that can match or surpass that total...so it's ludicrous to say they're without talent.

That's too bad to hear, I like UNC's program. Or "liked" might be a better word. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next couple seasons. Like I said earlier, I think Troy Murphy had more to do with his "success" at Notre Dame than anything else. To outside eyes, the powers that be at UNC (apparently not Dean Smith which really surprises me) picked a guy that looked good and had potential but never really accomplished much. It would be nice to see him succeed, but my impression is he is learning as he goes, which is not what programs like UNC get for head coaches.

While I think it's not entirely fair to blame Guthridge for all of the Heel's problems, he shares some responsibility. What surprises me is that people expected this team to be as good as last year. Let's remember that in addition to losing Brendan Haywood, Joseph Forte left after only his sophmore year and Ron Curry and Julius Peppers did not play even though they were eligible. If these three had played, I doubt they lose 20 games.

[quote]Originally posted by Rob:
If these three had played, I doubt they lose 20 games.[/qb]

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Based upon the coaching expertise displayed by Doherty this year, they would have only lost 18 or 19 games, not 20....what a difference that would have made in Chapel Hill ....don't you think Roy Williams is having the last laugh after turning down those "brilliant" administrators at UNC and about to lead a real college team that always has student-athletes that display class and sportsmanship to another Final Four.

[ March 11, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

I hope they dump him.
ND is doing so much better since he left.
And what that crying thing when he left.
GO IRISH

Here's another slant--

If you can honestly blame Bill Guthridge, why not blame the new football coach Jim Bunting?

Something came between Curry and Peppers and basketball this season. When Torbush was the football coach, the two played, and after the coaching change, they didn't.

It's out there, but anything's possible.

I don't know about Curry, but Peppers is going to be a top NFL draftee this year. He shouldn't be risking his career playing college hoops.