The Early Years

Born on June 10, 1968 in Athens, Georgia, Derek Dooley is a former college football player and NFL coach, who currently holds the position of Senior Offensive Analyst at the University of Alabama.

Dooley is another coach who was fortunate to have grown up with a father who himself was a successful college coach. Dooley’s father, Vince, coached at the University of Georgia, and no doubt was an inspiration to him growing up.

Derek Dooley attended Clarke Central High School in his home town of Athens, Georgia where he found his calling as a tight end for his high school team.

He was lucky to have an excellent coach in Billy Henderson, who had famously coached several college teams, and Dooley found himself as part of the 1985 State Championship Team.

After completing his studies at Clarke Central, Dooley enrolled at the University of Virginia where he played on the football team as a wide receiver. He thrived at college not just in the sporting arena but also academically.

He was awarded a scholarship, and notably was awarded Academic All-ACC, playing in the Senior Bowl during his graduation year in 1990. Dooley graduated with a degree in Government and Foreign Affairs, before obtaining a Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law.

Coaching History & Timeline

After graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1994, Dooley’s first coaching position was at his alma mater, where he served as graduate assistant at the University of Georgia for one season in 1996.

He then spent two seasons as the wide receivers coach at Southern Methodist University before spending the next five years at Louisiana State University.

Between 2000 and 2004, Dooley first started at LSU as a tight ends coach, before becoming the Assistant Head Coach and running backs coach.

2005 saw Dooley enter the NFL arena as a coach, where he served as the tight ends coach, before he began his first Head Coach position at Louisiana Tech University.

Dooley was only able to guide the Bulldogs to one winning season at Louisiana Tech, with his first season as Head Coach being a losing one, going 5-7 in 2007. He guided the Bulldogs to a season win in 2008, going 7-5 and finished his last season going 4-8. He also served as Director of Athletics here during 2008 – 2010.

2010 was the year that Dooley began his tenure as Head Coach for the Volunteers at the University of Tennessee.

During his three years as at the University of Tennessee, Dooley had one of the worst coaching records in the university’s history. His overall record during his time coaching the Volunteers was 15-21, and of this, he had a 4-19 record against conference teams.

He was unable to guide the Volunteers to a single winning season, going 6-7, 5-7 and 5-7 again.

This was the first time the University of Tennessee had experienced three back to back losing seasons since 1909, and Dooley famously didn’t coach the final game of the season in 2012.

Despite this, he clearly was a talented individual and was hired by the Dallas Cowboys where he spent five seasons as wide receivers coach until becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Missouri in 2018 for two seasons.

Present Day

Dooley returned to the NFL in 2020, in the role of senior offensive assistant for the New York Giants. He then switched to the role of Tight Ends Coach in 2021, before moving to his current position as the Senior Offensive Analyst for the University of Alabama in 2022.