CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The photos on the wall show Matt Doherty belongs here, has the right to sit in Dean Smith's old office, and is as loyal to the Carolina cause as anyone who donned the Tar Heel blue.

The question, however, remains: Will he have the staying power to continue making sure the pictures are straight on his wall, in his office, for years to come?

It's a decision that shouldn't be based on this season, or last year's 8-20 campaign. Doherty is rebuilding a program. And, no matter how storied the past on Chapel Hill, it's a job that can't be done overnight. Patiences is something Doherty needs as much as victories.

	Given the time, Matt Doherty is determined to get UNC back to the top of college basketball.

"There's a lot of attention given to North Carolina, but with that comes bad attention on our coaches and everything we do is under the microscope," said sophomore Jawad Williams. "There's a lot of pressure. We're going to have to work together to get through it. But he (Doherty) is handling it real well."

Making sure the historic Carolina faces are up on his wall helps. So, too, do all the candid photos in the copier room of players throughout the years, those of Rick Fox's wedding picture with Vanessa Williams and others of various players with their children, wives, or good friends. It's a connection to the past that Doherty was once criticized for lacking, but has clearly embraced.

"This wall is probably the most popular part of our offices," Doherty said with pride on a tour of his office and the basketball complex.

But it's not as impressive as the former players' photos in his office.

Smith started the fraternity-like, black-and-white mug shots of players in the early '60s. In increments of four-year periods, the players who passed through the program are all on the wall. The names are staggering, but part of the Carolina experience. The pictures show Larry Brown, Phil Ford, Mitch Kupchak, Kenny Smith, George Karl, Bobby Jones, Bob McAdoo, Walter Davis, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, countless others, and of course, Doherty.

Each looks fresh-faced and still wide-eyed to the college game. Something UNC fans should remember this season when watching the 2002-03 Tar Heels. Doherty will rely on plenty of fresh faces this season, six freshmen to be exact, including impact and likely starting guards Raymond Felton at the point, Rashad McCants on the wing and forward Sean May.

Doherty has long since lost the innocent look of his mug on the wall, but his energy and desire to add to UNC's legacy is the same as a coach as it was as a player. Practice is his time and he's not about to let any of it go to waste. Doherty is as intense as any coach in the country. He's involved in practice more than any coach we watched during ESPN.com's 12-campus tour this preseason.

He doesn't mind getting up close and personal with a player to correct him, or just as quickly, encourage him. Simply put, Doherty and his staff are loud, active and push practice to a non-stop pace for nearly three hours. This program is going to get back where the country expects it to reside because Doherty is going to exhaust himself trying to ensure it moves forward. Complacency isn't an option.

Doherty understands his job is tough, an annual no-win situation unless UNC wins it all -- just like those of Steve Lavin at UCLA and Tubby Smith at Kentucky. All three, voted the toughest jobs in the country in the ESPN.com survey, deal with daily pressures to win -- a national title.

But Doherty is different from Lavin and Smith. Neither went to UCLA or Kentucky, nor did either play for the Bruins or Wildcats. While both are under pressure to finish No. 1 every year, they aren't at a school where it was an unofficial requirement to be the head coach once Smith and longtime assistant Bill Guthridge (neither of whom played or went to Carolina) retired. But it's exactly those UNC ties that makes the Carolina electorate seem willing to be patient for him to rebuild one of the three most storied programs in the game.

"The three jobs you mentioned aren't just the toughest jobs, they're the best jobs," said Doherty, whose staff receives (and welcomes) a private coaching clinic with Smith on a weekly to bi-weekly basis, where the topics can range from discussing a zone offense to dealing with freshmen mistakes. "The winning tradition is probably very much a positive but it can also be a dark cloud at times.

	“	Fortunately for me, I had a good year under my belt. People said, 'Wow, he can't be an idiot.' Although I'm sure some said it. ... It's all fragile. ... I'm comfortable with where we're at and where we're heading. ”
		— Matt Doherty UNC head coach

"You have to give transitions some time," Doherty adds. "But everything is fragile. I remember winning 18 games in a row my first year here and going into my radio show and it was a lovefest. I remember saying to myself, 'If a kid gets hurt, or sick, or misses a shot, does the plug get pulled on all of this?' It's all fragile.

"Patience is something we all could use a dose of, but that's not our society. Everything is immediate gratification. I'm comfortable with where we're at and where we're heading."

Eighteen wins in a row? Yes, remember Doherty was the national coach of the year two seasons ago -- his first at Carolina. Carolina won 26 games, reached the ACC tournament title game, before being upset by Penn State in the NCAA Tournament's second round. That season obviously gave Doherty a cushion to get through the mess ever since.

"Fortunately for me, I had a good year under my belt," Doherty said. "People said, 'Wow, he can't be an idiot.' Although I'm sure some said it."

In the year after losing to Penn State, the Tar Heels went from atop the ACC to a losing 20 games instead of winning 20 games and missing the postseason. Joseph Forte bolted early for the NBA, as expected. Reports that Forte and Doherty had a strained relationship aren't so surprising after the Celtics had the same tough time dealing with Forte's poor work ethic in his rookie season. Doherty demanded more of his star guard. The Celtics did too, but to no avail, before shipping him off to Seattle.

"I knew the second year was going to be tough with (then senior) Brendan Haywood gone and Joe Forte likely going pro," Doherty said. "But what is forgotten is that two of our best players were football players that didn't play last year in Ronald Curry (point guard) and Julius Peppers (forward). That made it tough. We didn't win and that was disappointing.

"When I took the job, I didn't get a chance to coach Jason Parker," Doherty said of the star recruit who was denied admission at Carolina, ended up at Kentucky, played one season, tore his ACL twice and transferred to South Carolina. "It turns out he has been hurt and had a lot of issues, but I thought he would be on our roster. A lot of things that could have gone wrong, went wrong last year. It's timing and tough luck and you've got to navigate through it."

Too much responsibility was placed last year's freshmen Williams, Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel. They simply weren't able to be dominant players in their first season.

"We were thrown into the fire last year,'' Williams said. "The good thing about this year is there are no expectations on us because all the streaks are gone. We had the pressure to keep those streaks all alive."

When sophomores Adam Boone and Brian Morrison transferred during the spring, the feeling was the program had bottomed out. It has, but getting rid of Boone and Morrison -- something no one at Carolina fought -- was probably a blessing. Playing time would have been an issue for these two with Felton and McCants simply better players. (No reason to count Neil Fingleton's departure in December, because he wasn't good enough to play at the level of the ACC.)

"I really felt at the end of June, all of that was behind us because we knew who was coming back and who was here and wanted to be here," Doherty said. "There was new energy in the program, excitement. I love coaching these kids and look forward to practice. But we are young and have a tough schedule."

Doherty said the educated basketball fan, not to mention the media member, knows the Tar Heels are rebuilding. This year, last year, and maybe next. But the fans still come out to see their Heels, allowing UNC to lead the ACC in attendance. More than 17,000 turned out per game for an 8-20 team, good enough for third in the nation behind Kentucky and Syracuse. And for those who don't understand nationally, well, Doherty can't do anything about it, so why worry about it?

Doherty said he grew up as a coach last season, as a person. He is at peace knowing that he will be criticized more now than he ever was in his one season at Notre Dame. When he held the ball in the ACC tournament against Duke to keep the game within 10 points late, some fans came up to him said it was a great gameplan. Others questioned him and said why didn't he do it earlier.

"You have to have thick skin," Doherty said. "That's one thing that I'm proud of. I've developed thick skin. I'm comfortable with where we're at and where we're heading."

For this season, that might be the NIT and if everyone stays (read: Felton, the core of the team, which features nine freshmen and sophomores overall) then the NCAA next season. But the question for Carolina nation is: Are you still comfortable? If you're patient, the answer should be "Yes."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.