Brian Dooley, a longtime South Florida soccer fixture, enters his eighth season as head coach at Florida Atlantic University. His first seven years at the helm, coupled with his previous four-year stint as head coach of Barry University, have made him one of the most successful collegiate coaches not only in the Southeast, but the entire NCAA. Ten times he has guided his teams to 11 or more wins including seven seasons of 14+ win campaigns.

Since joining FAU, Dooley built one of the most dominating programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He capped the Owls' final A-Sun Campaign with a 2005 A-Sun Tournament Championship to go with the team's regular season title and an NCAA College Cup berth, the first in school history. FAU also led the nation in shutout percentage (16 shutouts in 21 games, .762) in 2005.

The appearance in the A-Sun Championship was FAU's seventh under Dooley, while the regular season title was the third in the past four seasons. The Owls were the only team to make appearances in each of the last seven A-Sun postseason tournaments.

Dooley enters the 2006 campaign with a 143-49-10 overall record in his 10 seasons as a NCAA DI soccer coach. His .733 winning percentage ranks 31st in NCAA history, 12th among active coaches. In his seven seasons at FAU, he's averaged nearly 13 wins per season while compiling a record of 90-37-7 (.698).

His leadership will be a great value to the program as it makes the transfer into the Sun Belt Conference in 2006, allowing the team a chance to continue its historical success.

Dooley's imprint on the FAU program has been staggering. His 90 wins in seven years are 50 more than the program had in its first eight seasons (1991-98). He has coached three A-Sun Players of the Year, 17 First-Team All-Conference selections, 16 Second-Team All-Conference selections, one Freshman of the Year and 11 All-Freshman selections.

From 2000-05 Dooley's teams compiled a 49-8-2 A-Sun Conference record (.847). In 2002, he led FAU to its first A-Sun regular season title as the Owls posted a 10-1-0 conference record. In addition, FAU's 2-0 win at Gardner-Webb on Nov. 2 gave Dooley 100 career victories.

Another major influence Dooley has had on the program is the University's involvement in women's soccer on an international level. FAU has served as a host practice facility for several national teams, including the USA National Team.

Dooley spent a total of nine seasons at Barry, his first five as an assistant coach. In 1995, the Lady Bucs advanced to the national championship game, and followed that campaign with quarterfinal appearances in 1996 and 1997. Barry's overall record in the Dooley era was 53-12-4.

Prior to taking over as Barry's head coach, he was an assistant for five years from 1990-94. During that time, he played an instrumental role in the team's success as the Lady Bucs posted a 71-11-2 record and won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1992 and 1993.

Dooley attended Florida International University where he was a midfielder who helped lead the team to the 1982 NCAA title. He received a bachelor's degree from Nova Southeastern University in 1987.

Following his playing career, Dooley was an assistant women's soccer coach at Florida International for five years and the head girl's soccer coach at Hollywood Hills High School for four seasons. He also was head boy's soccer coach at South Plantation High School for seven seasons before taking the head coaching position at Barry.

Dooley has been involved in youth soccer for more than a decade. He currently is the coaching director for the Weston Soccer Club. He is a member of the Florida Youth Soccer Association State Coaching State.

Dooley and his wife, Marie, live in Pembroke Pines and are the parents of three boys: Sean, 16, Connor, 13, and Ciaran, 7.