College basketball: Chasing down speculation on new job for FGCU men's coach Joe Dooley

It hasn't been the slam-dunk season the Eagles expected, but it still may be good enough to get Florida Gulf Coast University fifth-year coach Joe Dooley a higher-paying, higher-profile job.

East Carolina and UTEP reportedly have shown interest, and Dooley's name also has surfaced in speculation on the Missouri State opening.

UTEP is located in El Paso, Texas, and on Monday that city's FOX affiliate joined others in reporting that Dooley interviewed with Miners athletic director Jim Senter last weekend in Dallas before top-seeded FGCU was upset, 108-96, by second-seeded Lipscomb in the Atlantic Sun tournament championship game in Alico Arena on Sunday afternoon.

FGCU athletic director Ken Kavanagh emphatically denied that early Wednesday morning.

"I can't speak to everything in Joe's life, but I can speak to how ridiculous that one is," said Kavanagh, who hired Dooley, the former Kansas assistant, in 2013. "One, we've had no conversations with UTEP. Jim Senter, who's their AD is someone I've known from his days at The Citadel. I have tremendous respect for him and know he would reach out if that was the case, and he also would not speak to a coach that's in the midst of trying to win an automatic bid (to the NCAA tournament). So there's no truth to that whatsoever and it's extremely ridiculous.

"It's unfair to Joe because if people thought he did (interview before the ASUN final), rightfully so, they would say, 'Sheesh, where are his priorities?' And that's not in any way close to the truth and it's unfair for people to even speculate on that without realizing the ramifications of what that means."

Kavanagh said he had not been contacted by any athletic director asking permission to speak with Dooley, the customary way an interview process begins.

The 52-year-old Dooley is 114-57 at FGCU after spending a decade with Bill Self at Kansas. He has steadfastly refused to comment on any speculation about other jobs.

"I don't comment on any stuff," Dooley told the Daily News in 2016. "I've been told by NBA people not to comment on jobs. Because if I comment on something — 'I have no interest in such and such' — and then if you ask about the next job and I have an interest ... I'm not the smartest dude, but I listen to people who are a little bit smarter than me in some of these aspects.

"They can say, 'Joe's a natural fit for this job.' Maybe I don't think I'm a natural fit. What the media speculates on might not be what I think."

Addressing the growing thought that he was at FGCU just long enough to make the transition into a bigger job, Dooley said in 2016: "I love being the head coach here. I'm not looking around, and I don't think that's an accurate portrayal."

Dooley interviewed for the Wright State job and reportedly interviewed for the St. Louis opening in 2016. Last year he interviewed with New Mexico and UNC Wilmington. Despite reports to the contrary, he did not interview with UMass.

FGCU's ASUN tourney final loss snapped the Eagles' streak of two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and will send them to the NIT next week. FGCU (23-11) will learn its NIT draw between 8:30-9:00 Sunday night and the ASUN regular-season champion Eagles almost certainly will open on the road.

Dooley took over for Andy Enfield, who in his second season led the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in 2013 and parlayed that into the USC job. The New Jersey native who's the husband of Tanya and father of Max, who will begin high school next fall, has led the Eagles to a postseason tournament after every season and to all three of the Eagles' ASUN regular-season titles.

After pushing the Eagles to a First-Four, Play-in record 31-point win against Fairleigh Dickinson in Dayton, Ohio, his 16th-seeded Eagles trailed eventual national runner-up North Carolina by just a point at halftime in Raleigh before falling, 83-67, in a 2016 NCAA tournament first-rounder.

Last year, FGCU drew a 14 seed and played within 86-80 of third-seeded Florida State in Orlando in the NCAA tourney's first round.

Kavanagh, who also hired Enfield, brought Dooley in at a base salary of just $225,000. This year it's $350,000, which is by far the biggest ASUN salary but still is quite small, even by mid-major standards.

The El Paso Times reported in 2015 that then-UTEP coach Tim Floyd "makes at least $600,000 a year."

Floyd abruptly resigned during his eighth season on Nov. 27 after a loss to Lamar and on the same day Senter took over. Floyd was 136-86 with the Miners, but never took them to the NCAA tournament.

Most reports have Dooley, Jacksonville State coach Ray Harper, Weber State coach Randy Rahe and former UTEP player and current Milwaukee Bucks assistant Greg Foster as the front-runners at UTEP.

Dooley also has come up in connection for the East Carolina job that was vacated by Jeff Lebo just six games into his eighth season. Lebo was 116-124 with the Pirates, who did not make the NCAA tournament under him.

That one makes sense. In his only other stint as a head coach, Dooley was 57-52 at ECU from 1995-99 before then-new Pirates athletic director Mike Hamrick — who is long gone — fired him. According to Hoistthecolors.com, Dooley and ECU had a deal in place in 2010, but if fell through.

Lebo's base salary was $500,000.

Dooley also has been linked in speculation about the Missouri State job that opened with last week's firing of Paul Lusk after seven seasons. Lusk was 105-121 and never led the Bears to the NCAA tournament. In fact, they haven't made the Big Dance since now-UCLA coach Steve Alford took them there way back in 1999.

Lusk's base salary was reportedly $600,000 in 2014.

Other names brought up in speculation for the Missouri State opening according to the Springfield News-Leader include Pitt coach Kevin Stallings (who is in a precarious position with the Panthers), Texas Southern coach Mike Davis, Alford's associate head coach, Duane Broussard, Colorado State assistant Kim English, Wake Forest assistant Steve Woodberry and Lorenzo Romar, Arizona's associate head coach.