Multiple reports Tuesday indicated that Joe Dooley would fill the basketball coaching vacancy at East Carolina.
Dooley coached the Pirates from the 1995-96 season to 1998-99. ECU was 57-52 overall and 29-35 in the Colonial Athletic Association during that span.
Dooley was dismissed by former athletic director Mike Hamrick after a 65-62 double overtime loss to Old Dominion in the CAA Tournament in Richmond on Feb. 26, 1999.
Dooley served on Fran Fraschilla’s staff at New Mexico from 1999 to 2002, helping the Lobos to three straight winning seasons and NIT berths.
Dooley was an assistant at Wyoming in 2002-03 as the Cowboys went 21-11 and played in the postseason NIT.
Dooley joined Bill Self at Kansas in 2003-04, resulting in a 300-58 record over 10 seasons, including a 137-27 mark in the Big 12 that included nine straight Big 12 regular-season crowns and six Big 12 tournament titles.
From 2006-07 through 2012-13, Kansas was the winningest Division I program in the nation with six 30-win campaigns, including an NCAA-best four straight.
The Jayhawks went to six NCAA Sweet 16s, five NCAA Elite Eights and two Final Fours with Dooley on the sideline. He was at Kansas for its 2008 NCAA championship.
Dooley became head coach at Florida Gulf Coast and compiled a 114-58 record with the Eagles, including a 57-17 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference. FGCU went to the NCAA Tournament three times during Dooley’s tenure, the NIT once and the CIT once.
The ECU position became vacant after Jeff Lebo resigned following a 2-4 start to the 2017-18 season. Michael Perry coached the Pirates on an interim basis. ECU went 10-20 overall and 4-14 in the American Athletic Conference.
Dooley’s first college coaching position was at South Carolina, where he coached three seasons (1988-89 through 1990-91).
Dooley is a 1988 graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor’s degree in speech communications. A four-year letterman for the Colonials, Dooley started his last two seasons and served as a captain his senior year.
Dooley is a native of West Orange,N.J. and was an exceptional player at St. Benedicts High School in New Jersey, where he set a then-school record with 1,140 career points.
Dooley, 52, and his wife, Tanya, have a son, Max.
Dooley was thought to be a candidate during two stages of the recent coaching search at East Carolina. Former athletic director Jeff Compher formed an advisory committee after Lebo stepped down,
After Compher’s resignation, Dr. Cecil Staton, ECU chancellor, brought former Pirates athletic director Dave Hart aboard as a special advisor. Hart led the process that is expected to culminate with Dooley’s formal approval by the board of trustees on Wednesday.
Dooley started his coaching career at South Carolina as an assistant from 1988-89 to 1990-91.
He came to ECU on Eddie Payne’s staff and served in that capacity for four seasons, which included the Pirates’ CAA Tournament championship in 1993 — ECU’s last berth in the NCAA Tournament.
When Payne left for Oregon State, Dooley was promoted to head coach by Dr. Henry VanSant, who was serving as interim athletic director at ECU.
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