Wheeling native will be coaching against his guys

RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER

AUSTIN, Texas - Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo has been saying thesame thing to associate head coach Doug Wojcik all season.

From afar, Izzo and Wojcik, a Wheeling, W.Va., native and formerNorth Carolina assistant, have watched the Tar Heels win the ACCregular-season title, earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament andthen a trip to the NCAA Final Four. All along, Izzo has said toWojcik, "Those are your guys."

Wojcik helped recruit Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott,Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants to UNC while working asone of Matt Doherty's assistants from 2000-03. Marshall seniorassistant coach Bob MacKinnon was on that UNC staff, too.

Those prize recruits will be Wojcik's foes when the Spartans facethe Tar Heels in the Final Four in St. Louis Saturday night.

"I'll have chills. It'll be awesome," said Wojcik, 40.

The good times have been truly good to Wojcik since he left UNC.Wojcik will take over as the head coach at Tulsa after the FinalFour.

Ask Wojcik what he thinks about the trick of fate that has hiscurrent team facing his old team and he laughs in one breath, shakeshis head the next, then goes sober in the third.

"What a turn of events," he said. "The fact that we're playingthem, it'll be weird but really very satisfying for me. "

Wojcik still speaks to the UNC players - most often with May andFelton - he helped lure to Chapel Hill with Doherty and former UNCassistant Fred Quartlebaum. May called him March 15, the day afterWojcik took the Tulsa job.

"He has a great head coaching job," May said. "I told him it waslong overdue. He deserved it a long time ago."

Wojcik cut his own path through the basketball world as a NavalAcademy teammate of David Robinson with whom he led the Midshipmen tothree straight NCAA Tournament appearances in the mid-1980s.

He was an assistant at Navy for nine years before hooking up withDoherty for their one season at Notre Dame in 1999-2000. Aftercurrent UNC coach Roy Williams declined the Carolina job in 2000,Doherty took the job and brought his Notre Dame staff - with no UNCgraduates among them save himself - to Chapel Hill.

There Wojcik coordinated the effort to bring in the recruitingclasses of the current Carolina seniors and juniors that aresignificant reasons why the Heels are in the Final Four now.

"It's going to be awkward, seeing him coaching on the othersideline, knowing he was the guy that used to be in my house when Iwas in high school, recruiting me," said Felton, who spoke to Wojcikon Monday. "It's going to feel funny, but he knows it's all aboutbusiness at this point, and when you get on the court, there are nofriends. ... But he knows it's all love, no matter what."

Two years ago - the first year at UNC for May, Felton and McCants -things were not close to being that peachy in Chapel Hill. The Heelshad gone 8-20 in 2002 and then finished 19-16 in 2003. After the 2003season, players met with athletics director Dick Baddour. Doherty wasfired and his staff, including Wojcik, sent adrift.

"In a way, it goes to show you that you meet the same people goingup as coming down the ladder," Wojcik said. "One day you're anassistant at North Carolina, arguably the best college program in thecountry, and the next day you're unemployed. In my opinion, it hadnothing to do with my work ethic or what I did there."

Wojcik didn't want to rehash the past but said things happen for areason.

"It was one of those things; there were powers that be thathappened at UNC; I've tried to take a positive approach to the wholething," he said. "Things happen for a reason. It was very unfortunatewhat happened at Carolina and (my family) was sad when we left. Westill talk about Chapel Hill but not like we used to. We talk aboutSpartan basketball and my boys know the Michigan State fight song."

He does speak with Doherty. They spoke on Monday, with Dohertyoffering congratulations.

"We had a direct feed in our CSTV studios (where Doherty works)and I got to see him cut down the net while holding his son, Paxson,"Doherty said. "That was great to see but it was kind of ironic."

Doherty said he didn't discuss the Tulsa job with Wojcik atlength. That Wojcik will now be a head coach and Doherty isn't at themoment is also ironic. Doherty has not coached since leaving UNC,having turned down the James Madison job in March 2004.

He also interviewed with St. John's but did not get the job, whichwent to Norm Roberts. Doherty's name was mentioned in the Tulsasearch but he removed himself from consideration on March 11. Wojcikaccepted the job on March 14.

"We didn't talk about that - it was more about what a ride it hasbeen for him, how a lot of people had (Michigan State) counted out,"Doherty said.

The UNC players Wojcik helped recruit still hold a soft spot forhim. McCants said Wojcik was his favorite.

"(Wojcik) wanted to bring the best player out of you," McCantssaid. "He believed in my talent, ability and passion for the game."

Though Wojcik wasn't a key in May's recruitment, May echoedMcCants' sentiment.

"Once I got here, he became my go-to guy," May said. "Whateverproblem I had, if I just needed someone to talk to about life, I wentto Coach Wojcik."

In another week, Wojcik will be headed to Tulsa, which has areputation for churning out high-major coaches like Kentucky's TubbySmith, Kansas' Bill Self and former Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson,who played with Doherty at UNC.

But, discussing the Tulsa job, Izzo told Wojcik how lucky he wasfor having gone through the wringer at Carolina, that Wojcikexperienced something there that few coaches ever do.

"Few people know what it's like to be involved with a place likethat," Wojcik said. "I mean Notre Dame is one thing and UNC issomething else."

Come Saturday, Wojcik will be working against Tar Heel maniainstead of for it. Michigan State assistant Mike Montgomery saidWojcik was emotional for the Spartans' win over Duke on Friday, sothe UNC game will be crazy for him.

"Doug has a little extra incentive to beat UNC, let's just saythat," Montgomery said. "But we're going to have his back."

May said facing Wojcik on such a huge stage will be difficult.

"For me it'll be tough," May said. "I'll try not to look to thatsideline until after the game. Whichever way it goes. I'm going to goover and give him a hug and wish him the best."