Dooley Taking Building Process Step By Step

A little more than a year into his second stint as head coach at East Carolina, Joe Dooley knows there's heavy lifting still to be done.

A few building blocks for the future are in place, and more are coming. The 2018-19 season was not without its high points — for example, the Pirates surprised eventual NCAA tournament qualifier Cincinnati 73-71 at home on Jan. 5, handing the Bearcats one of their losses during a season in which they finished 28-7 — but those high points did not come often. And although Dooley knew year one back at ECU would be a tough one, that didn't bring him any solace as his team finished 10-21 overall and 3-15 in the American Athletic Conference.

"If I didn't think there was upside, I wouldn't be here," said Dooley, whose team went 9-9 at home but 1-12 away from Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum. "It's no fun getting beat. Going into last year we knew it was going to be rough, but knowing that, it doesn't make it any more fun. (Assistant coach Steve Roccaforte) kept saying that in the building process you've got to take steps. That being said, while you're in step one it's tough.

"I think I've seen progress, but we want to see more progress. We're not where we want to be yet."

Things are much different at ECU than they were when Dooley was here as an assistant from 1991-95 and then head coach from 1995-99. Dooley, who was on Eddie Payne's staff in 1993 when the Pirates last went to the NCAA tournament, had four stops between 1999 and 2018. He was an assistant under Fran Fraschilla at New Mexico from 1999-2002, under Steve McClain at Wyoming in 2002-03 and under Bill Self at Kansas from 2003-13 before leading Florida Gulf Coast to a pair of NCAA berths, two NIT appearances, one CollegeInsider.com Tournament invitation and a 114-58 record in five years.

None of those jobs presented the challenge he knew he would face back at ECU, which in the four previous seasons posted a combined record of 51-76.

"There are a number of challenges at any job, and one here is trying to offset or trying to change a mindset of a losing mentality," Dooley said. "That's the biggest thing. You're trying to break habits, which is harder to do than create habits."

Creating those habits might be easier with players who are new to the system, and there will be plenty of newcomers next season. The Pirates are losing three seniors in Isaac Fleming, Addison Hill and Justice Obasohan, but only Fleming (9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists per game) received significant playing time.

Additionally, five players from last season have entered the transfer portal and are expected to leave. That gives Dooley a chance to further imprint his stamp on the program.

"The biggest thing we're looking for when we look to add players is talent," Dooley said. "We want a talent upgrade, and we want character. You want skill, but the major thing is the character and the upgraded talent.

"When you looked on the floor this past year we weren't very big, and from an athletic standpoint we weren't very athletic. Those are things that we need to address and are addressing. "

Junior college transfers Tyrie Jackson (Northwest Florida State) and Tremont Robinson (Garden City Community College) signed last November, along with Logan Curtis from Calvert Hall College High School in Maryland. Jackson and Robinson are 6-foot-1 guards, and Curtis is a 6-4 guard.

They will join a roster led by a pair of proven players in Shawn Williams, The American Rookie-of-the-Year in 2017-18, and Jayden Gardner, who was a unanimous pick to the American All-Freshman team this past season when he averaged 16.3 points. 8.5 rebounds and 30.5 minutes per game and was the only Pirate to start all 31 contests. Williams played in 26 games as a sophomore and averaged 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 34.6 minutes per game.

"I learned years ago in recruiting, don't just figure out who's helping you, try to figure out who's hurting you," Dooley said. "The biggest thing people hit us with now is that we're not in a Power 5 conference. They used to say we haven't won, or that our facilities weren't good. Now, our practice facility is off the chart. It's a great practice facility.

"Power 5 doesn't matter. (The American) was higher ranked than the PAC-12. We got four teams into the NCAA Tournament. Statistically, over half the players in the NBA did not play in a Power 5 conference in college. If you go in and you're successful, you're going to be recognized. I think that's what we've tried to tell recruits. We've been involved with high-level guys. You look at the guys we've recruited and who we're recruiting against, we're recruiting against high-level people."

Indeed, The American is a much different beast than the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), in which ECU played during Dooley's first stint. The CAA typically is represented in the NCAA Tournament only by its automatic qualifier. The American was represented this year by Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and Temple, with Wichita State and Memphis playing in the NIT. Wichita State was an NIT semifinalist.

That pushes the Pirates to keep up.

"You have two of the top 10 spending programs (in the NCAA) in our league," Dooley said. "When you look at what they're spending per student-athlete, facilities, cost of attendance, nutrition, I think there's a million different factors that are all intertwined.

"That's good news, though, when you look at it. We had six teams in the postseason, four in the NCAA, two in the NIT, Wichita getting all the way to the final four in the NIT. Think about that — you had six in the postseasons, and it was a down year for UCONN."

Dooley, known as a top recruiter, will leave no stone unturned as he seeks players who can help the Pirates. He pointed to a handful of well-known NBA players, most notably Steph Curry, as those who were undervalued going into college. Curry was asked to be a walk-on at Virginia Tech — where his father, Dell, was a star before going on to a 16-year NBA career — but instead ended up at Davidson, then a member of the Southern Conference. He's now a two-time MVP and three-time champion in the NBA.

"Not playing in a Power 5 conference certainly didn't hurt Steph Curry," Dooley said. "You look around the NBA at players such as Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, all the international players, it doesn't matter where you play, it matters what you do."

What Dooley did in his first year off the court at ECU is noteworthy and should help him on the court.

"The biggest thing is I think we've got us back on track academically," he said. "From grade point averages and APR (academic progress rate), those are things we've got to continue to work on. We need to graduate guys. We had (three seniors) getting scholarships, and they will graduate. Seth Leday, as a junior, will graduate. Everybody else, we had right at a 3.0 GPA.

"That's part of the discipline that you have to instill. The guys are going to class. Are they perfect? No. But we've made a lot of progress in those intangible areas."

The hope is that progress in the tangible areas is soon to follow.

"There's a number of things that brought me back," Dooley said. "There's the allure of a college town, a good fan base and the opportunity to compete at a high level. All of those things factored in.

"We've got to be ready to take step two. From a recruiting standpoint, we're upgrading talent, and that's very important."

- Joe Corley

Players Mentioned

Isaac Fleming

Jayden Gardner

Addison Hill

Justice Obasohan

Shawn Williams

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