Subj : NC Job
To   : All
From : Ed Grinnell
Date : Wed Jul 12 2000 05:13 am

I had to laugh at Andy Katz of ESPN because he really went off the deep end 
when he was talking about Duke being in a better position to name a successor 
to Coach K than North Carolina was.

I'm sorry but apparently Katz doesn't know that there are 26 pro and college 
coaches that have ties to Carolina - either as members of Dean Smith's staff or 
as former players. Katz started naming off names of Duke possibilities but 
didn't even come close to impress me as much as if you went down the list of 
the people who REJECTED the UNC job and that doesn't even take into 
consideration that IF Coach G had resigned 2 or 3 weeks earlier, Buzz Peterson 
would have been ahead of Doherty in the pecking order. Puhleeze, Katz, UNC was 
a long ways away from having to dip into the low end of Carolina's family.

                                 ****

As far as Doherty, he'll be just fine. So much as been made about the pressure 
of replacing Smith, however; a lot of people tend to overlook the pressure that 
Smith was under when he took over his job. His mentor went 164-58 and won an 
NCAA title. Despite the fact that he only took his team to the postseason 2 of 
9 seasons and left with his team on probation, Frank McGuire cast a hugh 
shadow. Dean Smith had to rebuild the program and it took 6 full seasons before 
he took them to the postseason. Along the way, he had to endure the tirades AND 
being burned in effigy. There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth but in 
the end, the administration stood by him and he REBUILT the program back to 
being a national power. A lot was made back then about how Smith didn't have 
any experience and now, they say the same thing about Doherty. Doherty took a 
moribund Notre Dame program and made a winner out of it so I don't see how he 
can't continue that success with the Tar Heels.

--- TrekEd 1.00
 * Origin: Does your Big Unit have a Big Hurt? (1:170/1701)

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