Boca Raton, Fla. ? Matt Doherty’s relationship with Florida Atlantic began a couple of weeks ago, when he called to recommend Valparaiso assistant Rex Walters for the school’s head coaching job.

They ignored his advice.

Doherty was hired Monday as Florida Atlantic’s coach, two years after he resigned from North Carolina. Doherty, a former national coach of the year, replaces Sidney Green, who was fired last month after three consecutive losing seasons, including a 10-17 mark this year.

“At every place there’s different problems, different issues,” Doherty said. “And I thought, ‘How cool would it be to come here and build this program?'”

Doherty agreed to a seven-year contract that pays him a base salary of $171,000 annually.

“He’s a coach. He wants to coach. He’s not going to go to a place where he doesn’t feel he can be successful,” said Walters, the former KU standout who’ll leave his assistant job at Valparaiso to join Doherty’s staff.