The Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Matt Doherty resigned Tuesday as basketball coach at North Carolina, ending a bumpy three-year run marked by feuds with players and his failure to lead a storied program back to national prominence.

The Tar Heels failed to make the Tournament in two of his three seasons. He leaves with three years left on a six-year contract that paid him $855,000 a season.

"You have to have an environment where you can be successful, and I can understand why Matt would feel that the rumors and speculation were making it very difficult," athletic director Dick Baddour said.

Doherty, 41, who played for the Tar Heels along with Michael Jordan in the early 1980s, left Notre Dame to succeed Bill Guthridge. North Carolina went 26-7 in his first year, but slipped to 8-20 last season - the worst record in the program's history. This year, his young team finished 19-16.

The team's failure to make the NCAA tournament in two of his three seasons was secondary to Doherty's leadership deficiencies, and his inability to get along with players and UNC athletic department staff.

"We want coaches who are tough and who have high demands, but whose toughness is coupled with love," chancellor James Moeser said.

ATLANTIC 10: The A-10 Conference has no plans to dump St. Bonaventure or apply additional sanctions against the school and its troubled basketball program.

"St. Bonaventure remains a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, and reports to the contrary should be put to rest," said the Rev. Nicholas Rashford, Saint Joseph's University president and head of the league's presidents council.

Rashford's comments came after the group held its semiannual meeting in Washington.

The meeting was considered critical in determining the Bonnies' future, less than a month after the A-10 stripped the team of six victories and barred it from the conference tournament for using an ineligible player.

Sanctions were imposed last month after the school declared center Jamil Terrell ineligible for violating NCAA junior college transfer guidelines. St. Bonaventure players responded to the sanctions by boycotting their final two games.

TUBBY HONORED AGAIN: Kentucky's Tubby Smith was named the Naismith National Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, his sixth national honor this season. Previously, he was named the nation's top coach by The Sporting News, the USBWA (Hank Iba Award), Basketball Times, ESPN and Foxsports.com.