Mike Dooley disappointed to leave Conrad Weiser after just one season on the job
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Mike Dooley took the job as Conrad Weiser basketball coach with the hopes of making the Scouts a Berks Conference contender once again.
Less than nine months later the 30-year-old Downingtown native has resigned, citing health issues within his family.
“It was a really tough decision, because I wanted to be there longer than that,” Dooley said. “I wanted to build the program up. I had big plans for this offseason.”
Dooley dealt with the health issues of family members throughout the season and said it would be too difficult to devote his full attention to the program while that situation exits. He said he hopes to one day return to coaching in some capacity.
“It’s my passion,” he said, “it’s what I’ve always done.”
The Scouts went just 8-14, finished third in Berks II and didn’t qualify for the postseason but the future is bright. Donovan Gingrich and Brady McKee, two of the best shooters in the league, are each juniors; in fact Dooley didn’t have a senior on his roster.
“And we have a really good eighth grade class that went 14-0,” Dooley said, “so I think the foundation is there.”
Record-wise the Scouts improved by just one game over the previous season. Dooley feels the program moved forward in ways that weren’t visible in the standings.
“What I’m proud of is that in one year I feel we were able to right the ship and build up a culture, at least a foundation of a culture,” he said. “It was a great summer and even in the winter (we made progress). I knew going in we weren’t going to win the county Year 1, so I was trying to move the needle forward and I thought we did that.”
The Scouts showed promise in the summer, reaching the championship game of the Ron Krick Memorial League at West Reading.
A rugged schedule that included non-league games against Hershey, the No. 1 seed in the District 3 Class 5A Tournament, Class 6A state qualifier Cedar Crest and Berks III champ Fleetwood, as well as division games against state tournament qualifiers Berks Catholic and Exeter and crossovers against the Berks I powers, made the wins tough to come by.
“My (athletic director), Chris (Kline) told me I left the program better than I found it,” Dooley said. “That’s every coach’s goal. I’m really proud of what we accomplished in one year.”
Gingrich averaged 15.1 points per game, fourth among underclassmen in the league, and made 59 3-pointers, second in the league. McKee averaged 9.3 points and had 30 3’s.
Dooley had not coached in the Berks Conference before taking the Weiser job but had wide-ranging coaching experience at the high school, prep, and college levels, with boys, girls, and women.
He came to Weiser from Ohio where he was head coach of a boys team at Spire Institute the past two seasons. He was named Ohio Prep Conference Coach of the Year after his team finished 19-10.
Prior to coaching at Spire he was the head girls basketball coach at Pottsville for two seasons, an assistant women’s coach at Alvernia University and Cecil College, and an assistant girls coach at Phoenixville.
Dooley is a 2016 graduate of Temple University’s Fox School of Business. During his time at Temple he served as a volunteer coach for the Owls’ women’s basketball team. He has a master’s degree in sports administration from Arkansas State.
Weiser will enter next season looking for its first winning record in four seasons. They have not reached the postseason since 2021, the last of Billy Harrison’s five seasons as coach.
The Scouts were a Berks Conference power in the early 2000’s, beating Reading High for the league championship in 2003 and reaching the Berks title game three straight seasons under Tony Casamassa. They also went to the PIAA Tournament three straight seasons; they haven’t been back since 2004.