News-Record.com

In case you haven't seen it, it appears that Matt Doherty has finally found another place to coach. And it's at ... Florida Atlantic?

Wow.

This is a school that, according the AP, played seven home games last season in which less than 500 fans showed up. Florida Atlantic has spent 12 seasons at the Division I level, compiling a record of 102-234.

Not exactly Chapel Hill is it?

There are two probable conclusions you can draw from this.

1) Doherty probably played his cards wrong and overestimated his value the past two years. Remember, he looked like a lock for the James Madison job last season, before pulling his name out. Allegedly, he thought he could get the St. John's job, which eventually went to Kansas assistant Norm Roberts instead. Doherty's saying all the right things about being psyched about the Florida Atlantic job, but I've got to imagine he'd rather be in the CAA than the Atlantic Sun conference.

2) Based on how far down the ladder Doherty had to go before he finally landed another job, it appears that ADs at various schools with openings were hearing a different story than the one being put out by national basketball correspondents and talking heads who were almost universal in their praise of Doherty and who expressed dismay when he was let go by UNC. We may never know exactly what happened to make things go wrong during Doherty's three years in Chapel Hill, but the fact that his former players went on to win a national title with a different coach and that Doherty is now coaching in a basketball backwater in Boca Raton leads you to the conclusion that at least a few people aside from Dick Baddour and the Tar Heels players thought Doherty was to blame for the mess.