Report: Bill Self hiring former assistant Joe Dooley to key role

On3 imageby:Griffin McVeigh08/19/22

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According to Gary Bedore of the Kansas City Star, Joe Dooley will be returning to the Kansas basketball program. He will be the recruiting coordinator under head coach Bill Self, returning to Lawrence for a second stint with the Jayhawks.

Dooley was most recently the East Carolina head coach, working with the Pirates for four seasons. That two was a second stint for him, serving as the head coach from 1995-1999 earlier in his career. He was never able to make the NCAA Tournament and finished no higher than 9th in the American.

East Carolina decided to let Dooley go due to his performances. He had flirted with joining Kansas the past offseason as well but opted to remain a head coach for another season.

Originally leaving Kansas to accept the Florida Gulf Coast job, Dooley made two appearances in the Big Dance there. Dooley won the Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award twice (2017, 2018), becoming the first coach to do so in FGCU history.

During his first go-round with the Kansas program, Dooley was part of the 2008 national championship team, being a key piece. He was a star recruiter for Self, continually bringing in some of the top players in the country. Mario Chalmers, who hit the famous shot to send the title game into overtime, might be the most notable of the bunch.

Overall, Dooley was with Kansas for a decade.

Dooley will return to accomplish the same goals — bring talent to Self and build a championship-level squad. Kansas currently only has one commit in their 2023 class in Chris Johnson. He is a four-star prospect from Missouri City, TX, coming in at No. 27 overall on the On3 Consensus. As usual, the Jayhawks will continue to go big game hunting and Dooley makes those efforts even easier.