Neil Dougherty

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neil Dougherty

Title Head coach
College TCU
Sport Basketball
Born April 14, 1961 (1961-04-14) (age 47)
Place of birth Flag of the United States Leavenworth, Kansas
Career highlights
Playing career
1979–1981
1982–1984
Army
Cameron
Position Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1988
1988–1989
1989–1993
1993–1995
1995–2002
2002–2008
Cameron (asst.)
Drake (asst.)
Vanderbilt (asst.)
South Carolina (asst.)
Kansas (asst.)
TCU

Cornelius Aaron "Neil" Dougherty (born April 14, 1961 in Leavenworth, Kansas) is an American basketball coach, who was most recently the Head coach at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Dougherty played basketball at West Point for two years under coach Mike Krzyzewski before transferring to Cameron University, where he played his final two years and earned his degree in 1984.

[edit] Assistant coaching career

Dougherty began his coaching career in 1984 at Cameron, where he served as an assistant until 1988. He then moved on to take similar positions at Drake, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. He was an assistant of Roy Williams at University of Kansas for many years. He also served under Head Coach Eddie Fogler at Vanderbilt and South Carolina. In 1990 under Fogler and Dougherty, Vanderbilt won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

[edit] TCU

On March 25, 2002, Dougherty was hired as the 18th head coach at TCU, replacing Billy Tubbs. Because Dougherty's defensive-minded approach clashed with Tubbs' up-tempo, high scoring approach, the team struggled to adjust in his first year, winning just nine games. The next year they improved by three wins, with the season's highlight coming with a nationally-televised 25-point victory over 10th-ranked Louisville, coached by Rick Pitino. In 2004-2005, the Horned Frogs finished 21-14, advancing to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament.

However, after losing star guards Corey Santee and Marcus Shropshire to graduation, the Frogs failed to build on the NIT momentum and stumbled to a 6-25 record in 2005-2006. This caused many TCU boosters and local media figures to question whether or not Dougherty was the right person for the job. His 2006-2007 team made strides, finishing 13-17, but the season also included an eleven-game losing streak, which did little to quiet Dougherty's critics. Dougherty was fired by TCU on March 16, 2008 after six seasons, only one of which had a winning record. [1]

[edit] Record as Head Coach

Season School Overall Record Conference Record Postseason
2002-03 TCU 9-19 3-13 -
2003-04 TCU 12-17 7-9 -
2004-05 TCU 21-14 8-8 NIT Quarterfinals
2005-06 TCU 6-25 2-14 -
2006-07 TCU 13-17 4-12 -
2007-08 TCU 14-14 6-9 -
All seasons 75-106 30-66