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Brian Dooley
Three-straight seasons with 10 or more wins and back-to-back Sun Belt Conference regular season championships are among many highlights since head coach Brian Dooley took over the women's soccer program prior to the 2015 season.
Inheriting a program that had two winning seasons in the first 15 years of the play, Dooley has guided the program to eight or more wins in each of the last five seasons, including a program best 11-5-1 record in the 2020 campaign.
Now in his eighth season with the Red Wolves, Dooley has led the program to a record of 57-52-16 (.520) with 38 of those wins coming via shutouts.
Defensively, Dooley has guided the program to a 1.09 goals-against average in his eight seasons. In the last three seasons alone, A-State has a 0.85 GAA allowing 49 goals in the 55 matches played while posting a 31-17-7 record with 25 clean sheets (21-0-4).
Named Sun Belt Coach of the Year for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Dooley has coached six First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selections, nine Second Team All-Sun Belt Conference picks and eight Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team honorees.
Among the individual standouts under Dooley's tutelage are forward Sarah Sodoma, 2020 Sun Belt Conference Player and Offensive Player of the Year, Megan McClure, 2020 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year and 2021 Sun Belt Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and Aliyah Williamson, 2021 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year. Sodoma finished her illustrious career holding program records in points (93), goals (36), game-winning goals (10), shots (234) and shots on goal (129) while ranking second in multiple-goal games (4) and assists (21). McClure ended her standout career with program records in wins (33), goals-against average (0.97) and shutouts (27).
Awarded his second consecutive Sun Belt Coach of the Year accolade, Dooley managed a squad that saw freshmen – first-year and returning freshmen – log 63 percent of the minutes on his team. Those freshmen accounted for 17 of 24 goals on the season. True freshmen accounted for 30 points, scoring 14 goals, seven game-winners, and assisted on nine others. Defensively, A-State posted a 1.01 goals-against average overall, while limiting conference foes to 13.9 shots per game and just 60 shots on goal in the 10 league matches.
With COVID-19 presenting challenges on and off the field during the 2020-21 campaign, Dooley managed to lead the team to the most successful season in program history. The Red Wolves set single-season records for wins (11), shutouts (11) and goals-against average (0.58) in an 11-5-1 season. A-State was unbeaten in the eight-game league slate, posting a 7-0-1 record and allowed just one goal in the eight matches.
A-State swept the Sun Belt Conference postseason honors with Dooley named Coach of the Year, Sodoma named Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year and McClure named Defensive Player of the Year. Sodoma and McClure were joined on the All-Sun Belt Conference teams by freshman defender Hailey Cloud. Cloud and Sodoma were tabbed United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region.
The 2019 season saw A-State post a 10-6-4 mark and a 5-2-3 record in Sun Belt Conference play. The Red Wolves advanced to their first SBC Tournament final. Sodoma provided nine goals and six assists for a 24-point season, fourth-highest in program history, to earn First Team All-Sun Belt Conference recognition.
In 2018, Dooley led the Red Wolves to an 8-7-3 mark and their third-straight appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The 2017 squad finished 9-6-2 with the nine wins accounting for the third-highest win total in program history at the time. Sodoma was named Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and was joined by Riley Ebenroth and Kelsey Ponder on the All-Sun Belt Conference team.
Laying a foundation for the program, the 2016 season saw Ponder finish second in the league in saves and save percentage to earn All-Sun Belt Conference recognition, the first for the program since 2013. Ponder ranked top-five nationally. Dooley's first season saw the Red Wolves finish 3-14-1, but four of those losses came in overtime and a total of nine matches were decided by one goal.
A name highly recognized in collegiate soccer, Dooley came to Arkansas State after serving as the associate head coach at Missouri for two seasons. Prior to that, he spent 14 seasons as the head coach at Florida Atlantic and began his head-coaching career with a four-year stint at Barry University from 1995-98.
Over his two years with the Tigers, Dooley helped Missouri to a 20-16-6 overall record and a 10-7-4 mark in the SEC. During his first year with the program, Missouri knocked off three top-25 teams, which accounted for the most wins over ranked opponents for the Tigers since 2008. This past season, Missouri finished with a 12-7-3 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after knocking off Kansas in Lawrence to start the tournament.
In his 14 seasons at Florida Atlantic Dooley compiled a 139-112-17 record and had a .700 winning percentage over his first 10 seasons at the school. Seven of his teams won 14 or more matches during a season and eight of his teams posted winning seasons. He also led the Owls to their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament and his squads consistent were challengers for the Atlantic Sun and Sun Belt Conference championships. From 1999-2009 his FAU teams averaged 11 wins per year and seven league victories per year.
Dooley's teams captured three Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season titles and enjoyed a seven-year run in which FAU was the only league team to qualify for the postseason tournament. The 2005 squad tied a program record with 16 victories (16-4-1), was a perfect 9-0 in Atlantic Sun play, and captured both the league's regular-season and post-season championships to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In 2003, his team set the school record with 16 victories and a 10-1 record in A-Sun matches. The Owls won four straight conference title matches from 2000-03 after winning just eight A-Sun matches in six seasons prior to Dooley's arrival at the school.
Dooley's teams have been recognized for their excellent defensive play. His 2006 FAU team led all Division I teams in shutout percentage (.762) and held opponents scoreless in 16 of its 21 matches. The Owls followed that in 2007 by posting nine shutouts and allowing 6.8 shots per match while surrendering just 15 goals.
Under Dooley's guidance, three different players earned the Atlantic Sun Conference's Player of the Year Award in seven seasons. Seventeen players were honored with first-team all-conference selections, 16 were second-team honorees and 11 were named to the all-freshmen team. Two players from the 2007 squad were first-team selections in the Sun Belt Conference, while another earned second-team honors in 2010. The program also had the league's Newcomer of the Year award winner in 2007 and 2008. In all, Dooley has coached 36 student-athletes to all-conference selections, had 11 named to all-freshmen teams, coached three to player of the year honors and two to newcomer of the year status.
On the international level, Dooley has coached 10 players that have gone on to represent their home countries on national teams (Finland, Scotland, Jamaica and Puerto Rico) and four have played at the professional level.
At Barry University, Dooley's teams had a 53-12-4 record in four seasons and advanced to the NCAA Division II national championship match in 1995. The Lady Bucs also qualified for postseason play in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and Dooley coached nine National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American players. His Barry teams were virtually unbeatable at home, going 29-1-2 in Miami Shores.
Dooley played an instrumental role in establishing Barry's success as an assistant coach for five years (1990-94). The college posted a 71-11-2 record during that time, and won NCAA Division II national championships in 1992 and 1993.
Dooley attended Florida International University, where he was a midfielder on FIU's 1982 NCAA Division II national championship team. He started his coaching career as an assistant on the FIU staff for five years.
Dooley received a bachelor's degree from Nova Southeastern University in 1987. He and his wife, Marie, are the parents of three boys: Sean, Connor, and Ciaran.
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