Dooley is a 1988 graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he completed his bachelor's degree in speech communications. A four-year letter winner in basketball at George Washington, he started his last two seasons and was elected a team captain as a senior. A native of West Orange, New Jersey, Dooley was a prep player at St. Benedicts High School in New Jersey where he scored 1,140 career points.[4] He is married to Tanya and has a son named Max.
After the 1994–1995 season, Eddie Payne departed the Pirate program for Oregon State. Dooley was promoted to head coach of East Carolina. At age 29, he was the youngest head coach in the nation. In his first three years, his teams posted 45 wins (the most of any head coach of the program in the same time period). Despite still being the only head coach for the Pirates' program to have an overall winning record at 57–52, he was fired from the job after the 1999 season.[5]
As an assistant
After leaving ECU, Dooley spent stints as an assistant at New Mexico, Wyoming, and Kansas. While on Bill Self's staff at Kansas Dooley was known as a great recruiter, bringing in players such as Cole Aldrich, Mario Chalmers, Tyrel Reed, Russell Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor, and Sasha Kaun. After 10 years on the Jayhawks' staff, Dooley accepted the head coaching job at Florida Gulf Coast.[6]
Florida Gulf Coast
Dooley won twenty or more games in all five years of his tenure with the Eagles. In 2017, he became FGCU's first coach to be named Atlantic Sun coach of the year,[7] he earned his second honor in 2018.[8] He earned two NCAA tournaments and two NITs at the school.
Return to East Carolina
Following the 2017–2018 season, Dooley was hired as head coach at East Carolina, where he had previously been the head coach.[2]
On March 11, 2022, Dooley was fired a second time by East Carolina, compiling a 101-119 record in his two-stints.[9]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion