Last week, Kansas coach Roy Williams ended a turbulent week of speculation by choosing to remain in Lawrence, Kansas, where he has guided the Jayhawks for 12 seasons. Then fellow Carolina alums Eddie Fogler, Larry Brown and George Karl withdrew their names from consideration.

After Fogler said the timing was wrong for him to be involved in the search at North Carolina, a source told SportsLine.com that Dean Smith and company would focus on Brown and Doherty, in that order.

Matt Dohety takes over a loaded Tar Heels team that went to the Final Four last season.(AP)

Then Brown bowed out, leaving Doherty to earn the job in an interview that lasted more than five hours last Saturday in Chapel Hill. Apparently, he won Smith, Tar Heels athletics director Dick Baddour, interim coach Bill Guthridge and the rest of the Carolina hierarchy over with his drive and determination.

And track record.

He was considered the fifth wheel of North Carolina's 1982 national championship team, which featured Jimmy Black, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and James Worthy. A consummate team player and perfect role player, Doherty was more about energy then production or style.

That's what served him well as Williams' main assistant at Kansas. After two seasons as an assistant at Davidson, Doherty jumped to Kansas in 1993 and quickly made himself known as one of the finest assistant coaches in the country.

He wouldn't just take any head-coaching job, though. It would have to be the perfect offer, which he found one year ago at Notre Dame. In his first game as the Irish boss, an upset victory over fourth-ranked Ohio State in the preseason NIT, Doherty showed promise.

That mushroomed during a 22-15 season in which the Irish beat St. John's, Seton Hall and Connecticut -- twice -- when each was ranked in the Top 25. Notre Dame shot to the final of the postseason NIT, losing to Wake Forest.

And now Doherty will be called upon to save his alma mater in the wake of an embarrassing 10-day stretch in which one of the country's premier college basketball institutions found itself in a corner.

Williams was a natural, until he said no. Then potential candidates started jumping ship as if the bubonic plague were settling over Chapel Hill.

Doherty to the rescue.

At Notre Dame, Doherty got disgruntled Oklahoma player Ryan Humphrey to settle in South Bend, and then he coaxed Troy Murphy to hang around campus for at least one more season.

But the loyalty card can hardly be held against Doherty, who barely had time to get to know his mailman in Indiana. Like many Carolina grads in the coaching ranks, he has a special clause in his contract that allows him to speak with Tar Heels officials if that post should become available.

The transition at North Carolina will be golden, as Guthridge built the perfect bridge between the legendary Smith and the Tar Heels' next coach. Brown, who turns 60 in September, would have been another temporary bridge, stalling the program's move toward long-term stability.

North Carolina gets that in a big way with the 38-year-old Doherty, who runs the Heels system and harbors bottomless passion for the program. He'll be there until he retires.

Doherty takes over a stocked team, with super shooter Joseph Forte and senior center Brendan Haywood leading the way. Forwards Jason Capel and Kris Lang are solid, and a host of newcomers will provide help.

North Carolina already has commitments from recruits Jason Parker, a 6-foot-9 power forward; point guard Adam Boone; shooting guard Brian Morrison, who will struggle for minutes because of Forte; and 7-6 center Neil Fingleton, who is a project at best.

Sources have told SportsLine.com that Xavier coach Skip Prosser is the probable favorite to replace Doherty at Notre Dame, since he interviewed well with Irish athletic director Mike White two years ago at Arizona State, where White hired Rob Evans.

Prosser also made the final cut at Notre Dame a year ago, when then-athletic director Mike Wadsworth hired Doherty. P.J. Carlesimo and Delaware coach Mike Brey, a Duke disciple who recently signed a seven-year extension with the Blue Hens, also figure in the mix.

Prosser is 127-57 in six seasons at Xavier, the Musketeers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times. They went 21-12 in 1999-2000, ironically having their season ended by Notre Dame in the NIT behind Troy Murphy's 21 points.

Of course, what would a coaching search be without Utah coach Rick Majerus having his name thrown in somehow. Well, there you go. He's been mentioned. But the Notre Dame brass wasn't exactly wooed by the tieless and sockless Majerus a year ago.

Majerus was on White's 'A' list two years ago, too. Maybe it was surprising enough that Majerus was never even mentioned in the Carolina search.

Some didn't think Doherty was in Dean Smith's "inner circle," which included Middle Tennessee State coach Randy Wiel, another former Heels player who spent time on Smith's staff -- Doherty didn't.

Wiel flew back early from a coaching clinic in Spain to speak with Smith and the Carolina brass Monday, so it speaks volumes about Doherty that the Tar Heels favored him.

It also speaks highly of Williams, for Smith and Co. could have used Doherty's ties to Kansas against him in the wake of Williams' shocking announcement to decline the offer. Carolina holds no grudges, it simply wants the right person directing its basketball team.

It got that man Tuesday in Matt Doherty.