All the Answers With...Brad Daugherty

Tar Heel Monthly is the premier magazine devoted to the stories and personalities behind UNC athletics. For more information, visit www.tarheelmonthly.com.

The following is from the most recent issue of the magazine.

By Adam Lucas

Former Tar Heel center Brad Daugherty is one of the best players in Carolina history. An All-America pick in 1986, he led the NCAA in field goal percentage (64.8%) and averaged 20.2 points per game. His 62 percent career mark from the field still stands as the third-best career average in Carolina history. After a decorated NBA career, his jersey was retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1997, and he has since moved into a successful broadcasting career with ESPN. Daugherty took a few minutes out of his busy offseason schedule to chat with Tar Heel Monthly.

THM: What's a typical day like for you in the offseason?
D: I spend a lot of time with my 10-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter. I've got in-laws who live in the Tampa area, and brothers-in-law who live in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. So we spend a lot of time roaming the land seeing the various members of the family. When we're at home, we have a farm in Asheville. We raise Black Angus cattle and Tennessee walking horses.

THM: Did you grow up on a farm?
D: I grew up on about a 50-acre piece of property with my cousins, grandma, and my family. We had a few cattle and horses, but nothing like we have now. My dad also raised pigs back then.

THM: Are you still involved with stock car racing?
D: I'm not involved as far as ownership because the time commitment got to be overwhelming. But I'm still a big race fan, and I'm on NASCAR's diversity counsel. We try to get to a race or two every summer.

THM: When you're out traveling the country, are people starting to recognize you more for your television work than your playing career?
D: I get recognized a lot as a guy who went to North Carolina and played pro ball but now do games on television. What helps is that college basketball is at a new level. It's a highly anticipated event every year, and the notoriety has become unbelievable.

THM: How did you get into broadcasting?
D: As a kid, I always listened to Paul Harvey on the radio. I was intrigued by the stories he told and said someday I would like to be like him. When I went to UNC, my major was RTVMP and I was very interested in how mass communication affected our perceptions of the world. I ended up putting a lot of effort into my degree, because I was really very interested in it. After my pro career ended an opportunity came along to do some pro games, and I did some Cleveland broadcasts. I had a good time, but I wasn't really far enough removed from it to enjoy it. I took about a year away from it and then one day ESPN called and asked if I would like to do college basketball. I happened to be watching a game when the call came, in fact. My first game was a Georgetown game and I had a great time. Going onto a college campus is so different from a pro environment. There is such a spirit in college sports.

THM: Do you have as much fun doing games as it sounds like you do?
D: Oh man, I have a ball doing games. I love to watch college basketball games. When I'm at home with my kids or my buddies I'm doing the same thing, running my mouth watching a game. I can't believe I get to do that as a job.

THM: How do you look at a game differently as a broadcaster than you did as a player?
D: I think my playing experience has really helped me as a broadcaster. In college ball, these guys aren't being paid, and they're trying as hard as they can. I think broadcasters should be very cautious about saying a college kid isn't trying, because it's difficult. Too often our culture wants that conforming opinion of someone doing something wrong or not trying or blowing a game. I get a big kick out of how much emphasis was put on someone who could make a shot at the last second. The media guys would say, "He really wants the ball." Well, everyone wants the ball, don't they? If you make it, you make it and if you don't, you don't. I like to compliment kids who are trying to improve.

THM: Carolina fans have varying opinions on Dick Vitale. Tell us something we don't know about him.
D: It seems like everyone knows everything about him already. Even though Dick is a huge Duke fan and I do hold that against him, he is a really good guy. He really cares about college sports. We are getting paid to do what we love to do, and he never takes that for granted. He gives his best effort in every game, and he is passionate about the game. I can't fault him at all for that. The thing that's most recognizable about him is that he really is the way that he seems. He just loves the game of basketball.

THM: When you go into an ACC arena to do a game, do the fans give you a hard time about the Heels?
D: They always think I'm there to talk bad about their team. I get a lot of ragging, especially last year when for a lot of those teams, it was the first time they ever got a good crack at us. I'm very proud of my Tar Heel roots. It's something I carry with me to this day. It's all good-natured ribbing and I give a little back, too.

THM: You do college games on ESPN and Kenny Smith does pro games regularly. Are the 1984 Tar Heels trying to take over the airwaves?
D: I think we both got too old to keep playing, so we had to find some way to hang around basketball without getting in the way. Kenny is really growing and blossoming, and he has done a super job at making himself a better broadcaster each year.

THM: Would you ever have any interest in coaching?
D: When I first came out of pro ball, I got several calls about being an assistant coach and was offered a front office position with the Cavaliers. At that time, though, I just wasn't ready. I don't know if I would be a good coach. My interest is in seeing the kids develop. There is so much pressure to win in the college environment, and I would like to see more invested in the kids. It's harder and harder to find programs that do that, although North Carolina is one of them, of course. It would have to be an awfully attractive situation to get me into coaching.

THM: You recently wrote an article for the Asheville Citizen-Times discussing players leaving early for the NBA and the effect it has on the game. Why is that an important issue to you?
D: We get all caught up in trying to attack the kid for leaving, and a lot of times we miss the point. The system has to work better and has to protect the amateur athlete. We can't put these kids in positions where they have to make decisions that have such a huge impact. There needs to be a structure set up. I don't think that freshmen should play collegiate sports. They should sit out one year and get their academic foundation before they play collegiate sports. That way, you would weed out the kids who only want to come to college for one or two years, because they wouldn't be willing to sit around for that year. That protects the integrity of the game.

THM: You arrived at Carolina as a very young (16 years old) freshman. Do you feel like you could have handled the NBA, both physically and emotionally, at that age?
D: When I went into the NBA, it was a different game. When I played, it was the last era of the men who played that game. There were no flagrant fouls then, so if you didn't protect yourself you were going to the floor hard. Now, you can't use your hands on defense. If you want to guard somebody like Shaquille O'Neal you have to use your forearm. So at the time I came out, I couldn't have played in the NBA. But the game has changed so much today. In some ways it has changed for the better, because I think the current rules give the players a chance to play a highly-skilled level. They are the best athletes in the world. But I could have come into today's game at the age of 16 and played, absolutely. The fundamentals in pro basketball are awful. You don't have to have any fundamental integrity to play the game, you just have to be a good athlete.

THM: What are some of your favorite memories from your time in Chapel Hill?
D: I did a lot of fishing out at Reed Hilton's pond. I spent a lot of time at a restaurant called Martini's in Carrboro that is no longer there. I ate a lot of spaghetti at that place. I used to go to the old Scuttlebutt on the corner there and get a bag of popcorn for a quarter that was about as long as my leg.

THM: Was that 1983-84 team the most talented you've been on?
D: Without question. The talent level on that team was phenomenal, we just weren't able to gel and get it done like we would've liked to. But talent-wise, some of the practices we had that year were unbelievable.

THM: What's your perspective on the 2001-02 season for Carolina basketball?
D: It was a very tough year. I was very disappointed, and I think all of us were. Matt has his ideas on the way he wants to proceed with this program, and last year he was caught in-between in terms of not having the personnel that he wanted, and there were some growing pains associated with that. Now he has the personnel. The program has to grow, and even though it's very unfair to him, Matt has to grow quicker than any coach in the country. I still have all the confidence in the world in Carolina basketball. I think there is a real opportunity for the team to be very dynamic, not this coming year, but that next year. This year, I expect some growing pains in the beginning, but come ACC Tournament time Carolina could really be a darkhorse.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related Videos