I read all the answers here, and it took a while to figure out what was going on. The following is based on the answer by Moe Sisko and some related research
If your SQL query does not return any data there is not a field with a null value so neither ISNULL nor COALESCE will work as you want them to. By using a sub query, the top level query gets a field with a null value, and both ISNULL and COALESCE will work as you want/expect them to.
My query
select isnull(
(select ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME
from dbo.ASSIGNMENTM1
where ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME = ?)
, 'Nothing Found') as 'ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME'
My query with comments
select isnull(
--sub query either returns a value or returns nothing (no value)
(select ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME
from dbo.ASSIGNMENTM1
where ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME = ?)
--If there is a value it is displayed
--If no value, it is perceived as a field with a null value,
--so the isnull function can give the desired results
, 'Nothing Found') as 'ASSIGNMENTM1.NAME'