East Carolina’s long-suffering journey along the bumpy roads of NCAA Division I basketball reached another crossroads late Friday as head coach Joe Dooley was relieved of his duties for the second time in 23 years.
ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert announced Dooley’s departure from the program in a press release that was issued minutes after WNCT-TV sportscaster Brian Bailey broke the news in a tweet at 5:13 p.m.
Gilbert indicated that he had let Dooley and his staff and the team’s players know about the move earlier in the evening.
“… I informed Joe Dooley, staff and our student-athletes we are going to move forward with a new leader of our men’s basketball program,” Gilbert stated, adding that he appreciated Dooley’s contributions. “For the last four seasons, Joe has worked tirelessly to improve our basketball program and I thank him for his dedication and commitment since the day he was hired. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
“We are committed to building a winning program and developing young men who are leaders on and off the court. Thanks to the generosity of our Pirate Club supporters, we have the facilities and fan base here to attract a top candidate,” Gilbert added.
Dooley had a successful five-year run at the helm of the Florida Gulf Coast program that included two NCAA Tournament bids and two NIT appearances before beginning his second stint with the Pirates on April 5, 2018.
Dooley play college basketball at George Washington and then began his coaching career as an assistant coach at South Carolina in 1988.
He followed fellow Gamecocks assistant Eddie Payne to ECU in 1991 when Payne took the helm of the Pirates.
At 29 years old, Dooley was the nation’s youngest head coach when he was promoted to the position in 1995 after Payne departed for Oregon State.
Dooley was fired by former ECU AD Mike Hamrick in 1999 despite leading the program to a 57-52 record over four years. It was the only time an ECU coach finished a stint at the helm of the Pirates with a winning record.
Dooley spent the succeeding 19 years as an assistant coach at New Mexico, Wyoming and Kansas before taking the top job at Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.
He spent 10 of those years on Bill Self’s Jayhawks staff, a period that included Kansas defeating Memphis for the national championship in 2008 with a collection of talent heavily influenced by Dooley’s recruiting prowess.
Dooley compiled a 101-119 record in eight overall seasons in charge of the Pirates, including a 15-15 record in 2021-22. His overall record as a head coach is 215-177.
Not a good move! What Joe did after losing so many to the portal is amazing. It is hard for any coach at a mid major to develop talent that will stay as long as the transfer portal and NIL is around. Just look what happened to Gardner. Joe still managed to get the most out of what he had. It has become so much harder now to recruit quality players with the lure of NIL agreements at larger and more successful schools as well. What should a kid do who is offered from ECU and NCSU? Which school do you think could offer the best NIL deal? Joe was hard working, dedicated, and a players coach. Gilbert will find no better!!
I doubt coach K would be successful here. Dooley has been successful everywhere but East Carolina. In the “one and done” era no talented kid is going to come here. Maybe we belong in the CAA for basketball or maybe some intramural league.
I’m disappointed in this decision. In a crazy period for all sports with Covid, transfer portal etc. it is tough for any program to be successful. I think he should have been given more time. Back to the drawing board again and again will never allow us to move forward. I felt like he was dedicated to the program but what do I know, I only give a lot of money for others to make mistakes with…..
The problem with our big donors and our athletic administration has always been that they do not consider the environment we are in an the challenges we face as a result of that environment. The majority of schools that we play in the AAC are from major population centers which gives just about every basketball team in the AAC and advantage over us in recruiting as we are from an less populated, essentially rural, area. Add that to the fact that we have 4 in state AAC school to compete with and it the result is that we have a basketball program that is extremely challenged to bring in strong talented players. Has any coach been all that successful here?