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Sad day in South Bend Doherty's move leaves UNC searching for coach -- again
Posted: Wednesday July 12, 2000 07:32 AM
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Notre Dame began the process of looking for a new basketball coach before Matt Doherty even went to North Carolina on Saturday to interview for the job there, Irish athletic director Kevin White said Tuesday. "We started about a week ago taking a good hard look at the national marketplace, so to speak, to try to see who makes sense," he said. "We've done an awful lot of work to this point anticipating we might be in this position." White declined to name any prospective candidates, saying it would "marginalize the pool." But he said the coach would have to be a good fit with the team and the school. "We're looking for somebody that's had great programatic success at the highest level, preferably somebody that's been in a high-profile situation, a high-end conference or a major situation. And somebody that will represent the values and characteristics of the University of Notre Dame." Irish players said they were disappointed, but understood. "People close to coach Doherty understand what went on with the decision and the things that pulled him to North Carolina. We understand why he made the decision," said forward Troy Murphy. Murphy, a first-team All-American and Big East player of the year as a sophomore last season, decided in the spring to skip the NBA draft in part because of Doherty, who led the Irish to a 22-15 record and a second-place finish in the NIT in his first season. But Murphy said he doesn't regret his decision. "Personally I think I have a lot of things I can get better on," he said. "There are a lot of what ifs in everything. It's a decision I made and a decision I have to live with," he said. Other players said they also understood. "It was his dream to go coach at his alma mater. You've got to follow your dreams, try to achieve them. He got his chance to go do that," forward Harold Swanagan said. Forward David Graves said it still came as a surprise despite more than a week of speculation. "You think it's going to come, you think it's going to come, you never know," he said. White said he plans to start interviewing prospects in the next three to five days, saying it was crucial to get someone in quickly because of recruiting and for the sake of the players. White learned of Doherty's decision at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday and Doherty and White met with the players in a dorm room an hour later. Players said Doherty cried. "Coach was very emotional. We just kind of took it all in and really didn't have any comments," guard Matt Carroll said. "He just told us it was such a hard decision to make. He said it was just an opportunity he just couldn't pass up." White said the Notre Dame job also will be a tough job to pass up, comparing the job to coaching at places such as Duke and Stanford. "Our commitment hasn't changed. Our commitment is to have a top five program, and I believe we can have that," he said. Doherty was a Kansas assistant coach when he signed a five-year deal with Notre Dame in March 1999. But he had a clause in his contract regarding North Carolina. "I suspect that when Matt came to Notre Dame he hoped that at some point he'd have an opportunity to have a conversation with North Carolina, maybe five or eight or 10 years down the road. I don't think he ever expected it would occur after year one." White, who was named athletic director at Notre Dame in March, said he will make sure it doesn't happen again. "I don't think you'll see us invite someone to the University of Notre Dame that is not going to be able to in a very convincing way -- perhaps in a contractual way -- convince us that they're interested in being here for the long haul," he said. Students were disappointed. "Oh no," said Sue Dooley, a pre-med sophomore, when told of the announcement. "I wasn't really a college basketball fan until I got here, but he really got the student body enthused. He would come into the dorms and talk to all the kids. It's something the student body hasn't seen here in quite a while, probably since Lou Holtz. That's horrible."
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