The N&O has a nice little catch-up piece on the job Matt Doherty is doing this year at Florida Atlantic. It sounds like he’s doing a nice job of rehabbing his career and image. The Owls (shouldn’t he be coaching at a school named the Eagles?) are 6-1 in league play after going 10-17 overall last year.
There are some interesting quotes from his players as well – “I wish I had been around him for four years. He’s [also] funny, has personality, charisma. He’s the first coach I’ve been able to laugh and joke with. He’s pretty cool.”
And another – “But he does joke, and there’s open communication. You can tell him what’s on your mind. I like it a lot.”
Wow, sounds a lot different from his Carolina days, huh? I guess he’s learned a lot from his experiences and become a better coach and person, right?
Well, yeah. Sorta. While clearly recognizing that he needed to change, and therefore tacitly admitting that he was flawed, he still continues to blame everyone else for what went down in Chapel Hill.
Here are some of Doh’s quotes about his UNC debacle – “I walked away with $300,000; that’s a small amount with three years left. That’s a lesson I learned.”
He also added that he isn’t much different from Roy Williams in conducting practice. Hmm. Let’s see, you alienated nearly the entire team leading many to say they were going to transfer, you coached the Heels to their worst record ever and you were fired after only three seasons. Roy Williams took your same players (granted, it was an extremely talented group) and won the national championship after already establishing himself as a tier-one coach at Kansas. Yeah, sounds about the same. I’m not sure Doherty still gets that coaching isn’t just running drills and teaching defense. Psychology is just as important and to properly teach, you need to understand and communicate with your players.
It sounds to me like Matt Doherty still has some learning to do.