Atlantic Sun Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jul 8, 2020

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 22: Sherwood Brown #25 of the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles celebrates with fans against the Georgetown Hoyas during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

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WICHITA, KS – DECEMBER 22: Head coach Joe Dooley (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

6. Joe Dooley – Florida Gulf Coast (2013-2018)

When Dooley took over at Florida Gulf Coast, there was plenty of reason for both sides to be excited. The Eagles had just made their shocking run to the Sweet Sixteen and had lost coach Andy Enfield to USC. Dooley, formerly head coach at East Carolina, had just spent a decade as an assistant to Bill Self at Kansas. This was the perfect young program for him to get back into head coaching.

While Dooley didn’t exactly lead the Eagles to another Sweet Sixteen, he did pick up right where Enfield left off. He led Florida Gulf Coast to two more NCAA Tournaments and won no fewer than 21 games in each of his five seasons. The Eagles finished in the top 2 in the conference each season, becoming the dominant force in the league that many expected, with Dooley winning 114 total games.

Dooley returned to East Carolina as head coach in 2018, leaving behind a lot of success with this Eagles program. While he isn’t the person that really built up the league, he did impressive work maintaining their standing as the conference’s premier program during that stretch of time. With the struggles of the last few seasons, it makes what Dooley did for Florida Gulf Coast even that more impressive.

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