ESPN.com is reporting that Matt Doherty will not return as coach of North Carolina next season. He seems to not be too popular with fans, players, Dean Smith, alumni or administration. Will Roy Williams leave Kansas for this job? From ESPN.com:

bye bye KS, hello NC... if you know who i'm talking about.

I don't know...while Roy Williams may be the obvious candidate, the fact the NC wants to have a press conference BEFORE the Final Four seems to contradict Williams going. I doubt if they--or he--would want to stir up even more of a distraction before Kansas plays this weekend. There will be speculation anyway but if I were Williams, I would think it would be badly handled if he has to spend the rest of the week answering the question of when/if he's taking the job.

So, now players bitching & whining can cause a college coach to lose his job??!!?? Doherty had done a good job this season at NC & proved--while at Notre Dame--that he is a solid coach. His recruiting prowess will be evident next year at NC; whoever they hire will benefit from what Doherty has done.

~Adam

I think the main problem is that since he was a new coach and had the whiniest team around last season, hes getting backlash from his good players this year. You have to admit a team that only won 8 games last year has no room to have players transfer and say how bad Doherty is to get along with. They flat out sucked, especially the 3 players who left!

There must be something else underlying thats not out there in the story yet. The AD Dick Baddour made some mention about Phil Ford being a confidant to some of the players, which pretty much creates a division right there. Ford was not retained as an assistant coach and moved to a posh job in the "Educational Foundation" Rams booster club just to keep him around. Think he might be bitter a little? They havent gotten money from this alum in a couple yrs now because of the decisions theyve been making.

But if there is dissention in the ranks, its best the problem be removed. And sadly right now thats Matt Doherty.

I do hope Roy Williams doesnt turn it down this time!

I still think UNC's going to make Roy an offer he can't refuse. As the local Fox affiliate pointed out tonight, a major factor in his staying in Kansas 3 yrs ago was the AD there. Said AD was forced out last year, so national championship or not, a change of scenery might look awfully tempting about now. Speaking of the local Fox station, they ran the Doherty story as tonight's lead, BEFORE news from Iraq. Amazing, especially from the (so-called) "fair & balanced" folks.

Basketball down in those parts is BIG news.

I always thought Matt made a big mistake leaving Notre Dame. He was doing awesome things with that program, and did not have all the pressure of the UNC legacy. Bill Guthridge took the freaking program to the Final Four in like his first year, and they were not happy with him. You can only imagine what the last few seasons with Matt at the helm have been like for the school and its boosters.

In terms of a replacement, Roy is an option. I am not sure he will be ready to give up all of his year's in Lawrence. Perhaps if they do win it all this year, he will feel ready for a new challenge.

I do expect them to go after a very established coach who will be seen as a proven commodity. The alum are looking to root for a winning program again, and the school wants to get back into the swing of the basketball thing.

So Matt Doherty got fired.......guess karma really does boomerang.

Signed,
A still bitter Notre Dame Alum :mad:

Yeah because nobody ever leaves their job for an opening at Notre Dame! Lou Holtz ring a bell? When does that karmic boomerang from Stanford come smack Ty Willingham upside the head?

Huh. So all the problems with North Carolina basketball are not Bill Guthridge's fault? Or is Dick Baddour and the local media down there going to find a way to blame Guthridge for this too?

You betcha. It was already happening last night.

I dont think Guthridge has any blame to be placed on him except for his poor recruiting which led Doherty to have such a crappy team for a couple seasons. A lot of defections and people going pro and the such didnt help matters.
Guthridge also didnt coach. He was just there. The players even admitted he more or less helped when he needed to, but that Ed Cota ran the show on the floor. I was in some classes with them during that time and that was no rumor. Must be why Ed slept in class.

I just hope that they don't consider Texas Longhorns head coach, Rick Barnes. He has done such a good job at Texas(especially with it being a traditional football school). The players and the fans(including me) like him. He is a North Carolina native and I think that he might definitely be interested in the job, if it was offered. It has to be considered one of the premier college basketball programs in the country.

Well, no press conference yet -- and Williams and KU are but 18 hours away from Final Four tip-off. What effect might this distraction have on the KU players? (GO MARQUETTE!)

I don't get this whole "North Carolina family" thing -- of course I know they have a great tradition, tons of great former coaches and players, etc. But, when looking for a new coach, don't you wanna enlarge the gene pool?!

[ April 04, 2003, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

Well until recently really, UNC hasnt had to look for a coach. Dean Smith was there forever. So to me, they dont have experience in looking for a coach. The first time they had to look was 3 yrs ago, and picked Doherty since the other choices turned them down. Those being Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl, etc. Doherty got the job more on the good graces of Michael Jordan pushing for him. So maybe that wasnt the best choice, hiring a coach with 1 yr of head coaching experience. But the pool of former UNC coaches and players to choose from is rather large and many are top tier coaches. So it stands to reason theyd look there first.
But Im quite sure this time around theyll look outside of the box. There are a lot of people whod kill to have that job, regardless of its current situation.
I doubt Barnes would leave Texas since he just took it to the Final Four. Plus he was the Clemson coach who had tis bitter rivalry with Dean Smith that almost came to blows at times, so I dont think hed get along with him.
My choice would be Williams. But if he isnt available, George Karl would be good. Outside of the UNC spectrum, another good one would be Tubby Smith.