Oct. 13, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – On March 30, 1999, the Notre Dame men’s basketball program announced the hiring of its 16th head coach,Matt Doherty. Doherty brings with him not only an intense vision of the future but a storied past in the world of college basketball. Today the Irish Insider examines his career as an assistant at Kansas in this three-part series.
After a successful career in college, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Matt Doherty but he never played in the NBA. After he got cut, he knew at that point that he had to get as far away from basketball as possible.
He spent about three years working on Wall Street and then came to the realization that he did not enjoy being a government bond salesman.
“I remember watching Seton Hall play in the Final Four in 1987, thinking why couldn’t I be the coach,” Doherty said. “That was the first time that it entered my head that coaching was an option.”
Doherty quit his job. He then headed to Charlotte and began looking to get into business there.
“I was always wanting to do stuff around basketball, like broadcasting games on the radio and on TV,” Davie said. “I was doing Carolina games on the radio, Davidson games on the radio and trying to get in with ESPN. Then all of a sudden I was coaching an AAU team and I loved it. It was a 14 year-old team. I just really enjoyed planning practice and coaching kids and dealing with kids. I thought to myself you could make a living out of this.”
About this time Davidson made a coaching change and hired Doherty’s high school coach, Bob McKillop. McKillop made no hesitation and brought Doherty on board in 1989. For three years, Doherty worked as McKillop’s assistant until once again Roy Williams came knocking.
This time, Williams asked him to join him as an assistant at the University of Kansas. Doherty worked for six seasons with Williams, starting in 1993. He spent six years teaming up with one of the most revered coaches in the nation to develop one of the strongest basketball programs in the nation.
While at Kansas is when Doherty drew the attention of many with his recruiting skills. Doherty signed nine McDonalds’ All-Americans. He brought the likes of Jacque Vaughn, Scott Pollard, Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz to the Jayhawks. Besides recruiting, he was involved in scouting as well as various other day-to-day tasks.
While at Kansas, the Jayhawks appeared in the NCAA tournament every year. Five of the years that Doherty coached, the team won the Big Eight/Big 12 Conference title. Overall the team compiled a record of 202 wins and just 42 loses.
“I never thought of myself as a basketball coach,” Doherty said. “Although, I was kind of a coach when I was on the floor as a basketball player. I wasn’t very talented but I did like to think the game.”