MATT DOHERTY

Head Coach Matt Doherty is entering his 17th season of coaching, seventh as a head coach, with eight NCAA Tournament berths, seven conference titles, a Final Four appearance and the 2001 Associated Press National Coach of the Year award.

He has also coached 21 players that have gone on to the NBA.

Doherty was named the head men's basketball coach at SMU by Director of Athletics Steve Orsini on April 24, 2006. Doherty is the 19th head coach in SMU history and is one of most heralded coaches ever to come to the Hilltop. Doherty's first season on the Hilltop energized the program. The Mustangs broke ground on the $13-million, 43,000 square-foot Crum Basketball Center, unveiled a million-dollar scoreboard/video board, played on national television a
program record six times, and signed a recruiting class ranked as high as 24th nationally.

On the floor, the Mustangs improved their RPI rank by more than 60 spots from the previous season while finishing with a 14-17 record. The squad allowed the opponents just 62.7 points per game, which was the third-best scoring defense in SMU history. The season also included a seven-game winning streak which was the longest since 1999-2000 and an 11-3 start that was the best since 2000-01.

Doherty came to the Hilltop after spending the 2005-06 campaign as the head coach at Florida Atlantic, where he led the Owls to a 15-13 season that included a 14-6 record in Atlantic Sun play, the best in school history. The 15 wins were also five more than FAU had managed in the year prior to his arrival.

Doherty possesses a dynamic basketball background that includes coaching at the highest levels as well as affiliations with some of the best teams, coaches and players in the game's history.

As a player, Doherty earned national recognition as a collegian at North Carolina, where he played in 129 games from 1980-84 under legendary coach Dean Smith. Doherty was a starter as a sophomore on UNC's 1982 National Championship team that went 32-2, playing alongside Michael Jordan and James Worthy. In all, North Carolina won at least 28 games in each of the four seasons Doherty starred as small forward and garnered three ACC regular season and two
ACC Tournament titles, as well as four NCAA Tournament appearances. Doherty became only the second player in ACC history to post 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career. In his four years, North Carolina went 117-21 (.848). As a senior, Doherty received the Jim Tatum Award, which is given to the UNC student-athlete with the most outstanding achievements in his or her sport while constructively participating in the community. He graduated in four years and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1984.

He began his coaching career in 1989 with a three-year stint as an assistant at Davidson College. He then moved on to Kansas, where he spent seven years as an assistant with Roy Williams and one of the nation's top programs. During his time in Lawrence, the Jayhawks went 202-42 (.828), posting an average of 29 wins per season. Doherty recruited eight McDonald's All-Americans and coached five All-Americans and eight future NBA players. Those recruits included Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich and Nick
Collison. Kansas would win six conference championships and play in the NCAA Tournament in each of Doherty's seasons, reaching the 1993 Final Four.

In 1999, he was named head coach of Notre Dame, and guided the Fighting Irish to their best season in a decade. In just one season, he turned around a team that was without a 20-win season since 1988-89. By the time the year ended, the Fighting Irish had finished with a 22-15 record, defeated five ranked opponents and played in the championship game of the NIT. That season, Doherty led Notre Dame to a pair of victories over defending national champion
Connecticut. He also coached future NBA players Troy Murphy, Ryan Humphrey and Matt Carroll.

Following his extraordinary season in South Bend, Doherty was named the head coach at North Carolina, his alma mater, in 2000. In his first season at UNC, Doherty led the Tar Heels to a 26-7 record and was named Associated Press National Coach of the Year. The team won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season co-championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UNC earned a No. 1 ranking during the season and two Tar Heels,
Brendan Haywood and Joe Forte, were tabbed All-Americans and became firstround NBA draft choices. Doherty capped off his first year by putting together one of the top-five recruiting classes in the nation.

Doherty's reputation as one of the nation's top recruiters continued in his second season at North Carolina, when he signed Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants, all of whom would play instrumental roles on North Carolina's 2005 National Championship team. In his final year at North Carolina, Doherty's team won the Preseason National Invitation Tournament and was
ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation before advancing to the NIT following the season.

After his time in Chapel Hill, his basketball success made him a natural as an analyst, a role he has served for ESPN-plus and CSTV in various capacities since 2003. Doherty has also worked as a scout for the NBA's New York Knicks.

He was born Matthew Francis Doherty on Feb. 25, 1962 in East Meadow, N.Y. He and his wife, the former Kelly Propst of Concord, N.C., are the parents of Tucker (June 1997) and a daughter, Hattie (September 1999).