sensei_hanson
New Member
Scary considering Sandman called this one a few weeks ago.
(Chapel Hill) AP - North Carolina basketball coach Matt Doherty, whose job status and relationship with his players have been in question for months, will not return next season, a source with knowledge of the decision has told ESPN's Dick Vitale.
A spokesman for the school would not confirm Doherty's fate. His job status will be discussed at an 8 p.m. ET news conference.
Sources have told ESPN.com that North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour wanted to make a decision on Doherty's fate before the Final Four. Baddour has met with players and their parents in the past week about their relationship with Doherty, who just completed his third year as Tar Heels coach.
Speculation about Doherty's job status and potential player unrest dogged the program for much of the season.
Doherty was The Associated Press national coach of the year in his first season after leading the Tar Heels to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the team slumped badly last season after sophomore Joseph Forte entered the NBA draft and Doherty was unable to prod football/basketball players Julius Peppers and Ronald Curry to join the team for the ACC season.
The Tar Heels finished 8-20 overall, 4-7 in the ACC. But the program took a huge swing upward this season with the addition of freshmen Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May. The Tar Heels won the Preseason NIT and were on their way to a likely NCAA bid before May suffered a broken foot that forced him to miss the entire ACC schedule.
Nonetheless, North Carolina beat Duke at home to close the regular season, defeated Maryland in the first round of the ACC tournament and then advanced to the third round of the postseason NIT, where it lost to Georgetown and finished 19-16.
Kansas coach Roy Williams, who spurned the Tar Heels three years ago and remained at Kansas -- a decision that led to Doherty's hiring by Carolina -- told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he was extremely upset over the possibility that Doherty would lose his job. Doherty played for the Tar Heels in the 1980s when Williams was an assistant under Dean Smith and was on Williams' staff at Kansas.
Alright. 19-16 after an 8-20 record is a damn fine improvement and should have saved him for at least another season. I have major reservations about this move....I can only hope that Baddour already has a coach lined up to take Doherty's place (I'm really hoping for Larry Brown, who's contract is up with the 76ers at the end of the year.)
Either way, an interesting turn of events.
(Chapel Hill) AP - North Carolina basketball coach Matt Doherty, whose job status and relationship with his players have been in question for months, will not return next season, a source with knowledge of the decision has told ESPN's Dick Vitale.
A spokesman for the school would not confirm Doherty's fate. His job status will be discussed at an 8 p.m. ET news conference.
Sources have told ESPN.com that North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour wanted to make a decision on Doherty's fate before the Final Four. Baddour has met with players and their parents in the past week about their relationship with Doherty, who just completed his third year as Tar Heels coach.
Speculation about Doherty's job status and potential player unrest dogged the program for much of the season.
Doherty was The Associated Press national coach of the year in his first season after leading the Tar Heels to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the team slumped badly last season after sophomore Joseph Forte entered the NBA draft and Doherty was unable to prod football/basketball players Julius Peppers and Ronald Curry to join the team for the ACC season.
The Tar Heels finished 8-20 overall, 4-7 in the ACC. But the program took a huge swing upward this season with the addition of freshmen Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May. The Tar Heels won the Preseason NIT and were on their way to a likely NCAA bid before May suffered a broken foot that forced him to miss the entire ACC schedule.
Nonetheless, North Carolina beat Duke at home to close the regular season, defeated Maryland in the first round of the ACC tournament and then advanced to the third round of the postseason NIT, where it lost to Georgetown and finished 19-16.
Kansas coach Roy Williams, who spurned the Tar Heels three years ago and remained at Kansas -- a decision that led to Doherty's hiring by Carolina -- told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he was extremely upset over the possibility that Doherty would lose his job. Doherty played for the Tar Heels in the 1980s when Williams was an assistant under Dean Smith and was on Williams' staff at Kansas.
Alright. 19-16 after an 8-20 record is a damn fine improvement and should have saved him for at least another season. I have major reservations about this move....I can only hope that Baddour already has a coach lined up to take Doherty's place (I'm really hoping for Larry Brown, who's contract is up with the 76ers at the end of the year.)
Either way, an interesting turn of events.