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.
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.
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.