Steve Orsini, SMU’s new athletic director, wasted no time whatsoever in making a splash on the Hilltop.

A full month before he is to take over the job full time, Orsini has made a hire that easily eclipses any hire made by Jim Copeland, at least in terms of national prominence.

Matt Doherty, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Sam the Eagle of Muppets fame, has a history of winning unmatched by any coach currently on the Hilltop. His national championship as a player and final four appearance as a coach give him plenty of credibility as someone who knows his sport.

Detractors will say Doherty has a tendency to flame-out, push his players too hard and jump ship when better offers arrive. All of this may be true, but what else is undeniably true is that Doherty shows SMU is doing something it hasn’t done in a long time: making a commitment to basketball.

Lacking money for Moody, a practice facility or a competitive conference since the demise of the SWC, SMU is suddenly in a new position. Conference USA is stronger now with highest level coaches at UAB, Memphis and now SMU, and the hiring of Doherty just may cause the donors to open their wallets and push SMU over the top in its fundraising effort for the dreamed-of practice facility.

Another interesting thing about the hire is how it has Steve Orsini’s fingerprints all over it. At UCF, Orsini took a chance and hired George O’Leary as football coach. O’Leary had a speckled history of great success and great controversy. Orsini knew him from their days at Georgia Tech and offered him a chance to rebuild his career,

O’Leary thanked the man who gave him his second shot by turning an 0-11 team into an 8-3 C-USA east winner in just one year.

The Doherty hire is strikingly similar. Coach reaches national heights, suffers inglorious defeat and is born again at the hands of Steve Orsini.

Sure, this time it’s a little different. Orsini didn’t know Doherty before the search began, and the O’Leary-like results have yet to materialize; but what is the harm in thinking big?

A bold hire like this one has an opportunity to reverberate in the national media, and if Doherty does build a champion here at SMU, the exposure will be magnified through the prism of Doherty’s self-reinvention.

Ed Board wishes Doherty and his assistants the very best of luck at SMU. As a man with something to prove there can be no doubt we will get his best effort. We encourage SMU to give him the same. Let’s remember this excitement when basketball season rolls around and turn Moody into Cameron South.

Our new leadership is certainly inspired — we’ll soon see how effective it is.