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Matt Doherty

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Matt Doherty is a former basketball player and coach at the University of North Carolina. He has extensive experience in leadership and building teams with a winning culture. Matt played his collegiate basketball as a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels (1980-1984). At UNC, Doherty was a three-year starter. He was the second person in ACC history to earn 1,000 points, 400 rebounds, and 400 assists over a collegiate career. In his four seasons, the Tar Heels amassed a record of 117 wins and 21 losses and won the 1982 NCAA Championship. Matt went onto become a Division I coach, first taking the reigns at Notre Dame (1999-2000), before coaching at UNC (2000-2003), Florida Atlantic Univeristy (2005-2006), and finally coaching at SMU (2006-2012). As a coach, he won the ACC Championship in 2001 with the Tar Heels and was named AP National Coach of the Year that same season. Doherty went onto to work in the front office for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA, before finishing his basketball career as the Associate Commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference (2017-2019). Matt is now an active speaker, traveling the country speaking to businesses and organizations, detailing his experiences as a player, coach and executive. He is an authentic speaker that does a great job connecting with his audiences helping them to “Learn & Grow”.

Speaking Topics

Overcoming Adversity: How To Rebound

What can you do in those deepest and darkest moments of adversity?​ Coach Doherty shares his experiences in overcoming adversity throughout his life. He has discovered most successful people have experienced failure along the way. So much so that it seems that adversity is one of the main ingredients for success.


Every American loves a great comeback story, to see the hero undergoing a trial by fire and come back from it against all odds – the inspiring come from behind victory. In this talk, Coach Doherty explores the three paths available when faced with adversity and introduces a five-step framework for building a resilient team, everything from pre-planning to training for special situations.


Key takeaways include: Adversity doesn’t happen TO you… it happens FOR you; Like sports, your life is a series of seasons; Failure isn’t fatal. The only fatal thing is giving up.

Leadership Strategies: Leadership Is A Learned Behavior

Coach Doherty was sitting in an emotional intelligence class at Wharton when he first read that - “leadership is a learned behavior.”  He shares, “This was the most exciting thing I ever read in my life.” Imagine the possibilities in this statement after a lifetime of hearing, “Leaders are born, not made,” a prevalent belief in American society.


Can leadership skills be learned? Coach Doherty answers with a resounding “Yes” in this series on leadership strategies. In it, he teaches the fundamentals of leadership and time-tested lessons for today’s up-and-coming leaders. During this talk, Coach Doherty shares leadership’s six principles (or knows). You must analyze the STEVIT or self, team, environment, vision, industry, and mine for the truth to fully understand the playing field before stepping into a leadership role. He outlines the importance of creating solid statements around core values, vision, mission, and crisis management and providing clear guidance for the team to follow.


Key takeaways include: Create a winner’s mindset; Don’t treat everyone the same, treat everyone with fairness; You must know yourself before you can expect people to follow you; Paint a picture of success for your team, then hang it on the wall.

Building Your Team: Creating A Championship Culture

Coach Doherty understands that culture does not happen by accident or chance … it must be intentionally driven. In this talk, he brings leaders to understand why team culture does not happen on its own. He outlines how leaders drive team culture through servant leadership, strategic recruiting, training, and inspiring core values in their followers.


He begins by examining core values and their importance to an organization, works through the culture starter kit, and ends by talking about the termites that can eat away at a corporation’s culture. 


Key takeaways include: Culture cannot be delegated; Recruit and train to the behavior that drive success in your organization; “Little things are big things. If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.”

Lessons From The Park: The Winner'S Mindset

There are winners and there are whiners in this world - and how we choose to be determines our capacity for success.

Coach Doherty will share the secrets he learned and how he developed his winner’s mindset starting with playing in the parks of New York.


Mindset is the key factor in life. It can make or break a season...make or break a career. It positively or negatively affects your dreams, your path and your results. Learn winning strategies for success and create a framework for meeting life’s challenges face-to-face.


Key takeaways include:

  • If You Think You Can, or If You Think You Can’t – You are Exactly Right!
  • Control what you can control;
  • Double knot your shoelaces;

Matt Doherty's Experiences

EXPERIENCE DETAILS

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Virtual In-Person

Experience Details

Virtual In-Person
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Testimonials

Event Changed to June 16, 2021 with permission from Matt Doherty and Engage.

  • What is your favorite quote? “Comfort is the enemy of progress.” - P.T. Barnum
  • Are there any moments that stand out as having a significant impact on your career? Being forced to resign as the Head Coach at UNC in 2003.
  • Outside of your profession do you have any hobbies/interests? Golf & Fishing (Bass and Fly)
  • Is there anything else we should know about you? I come from a big Irish Catholic family in NY.
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