photo by: Nick Krug

Baker head coach Sean Dooley gets at his defense during the second half on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013 at the Coffin Sports Complex.

Lawrence Athletic Director Nick Wood approached Sean Dooley about filling the vacant head coach position for the Lions, and Dooley started thinking about the opportunities for him and his family.

Dooley’s youngest son, Joey, is a rising junior at Lawrence and a two-year starter for the Lions. His daughter Jordyn is entering her freshman year at Lawrence and expects to be an immediate contributor to the Lawrence girls basketball team.

“That’s 100% the main factor,” Dooley said of being close with his family. “There’s only so much longer that they’re going to be able to compete and me be able to watch them, and I want to make sure I don’t miss any of that.”

Coaching sports is about personal development as much as it is player development, and that holds particularly true for high school athletics. Coaching the Lawrence High basketball team also gives Dooley the chance to continue coaching the sport he loves while helping shape local kids into good people.

“Even more important than the wins and losses is just trying to help young people know the impact and the influence that they can have on the greater good and the community themselves,” Dooley said. “Young people get caught up on the results, and I want to drive that home that how you work and how you treat others are more important.”

The decision to take the Lawrence job means that Dooley’s time leading Baker’s men’s basketball team is over. Under Dooley, the Wildcats won over 200 games and reached the NAIA playoffs in three of the last four seasons. Dooley said that while there’s no perfect time to leave after spending 14 seasons at a program, what was waiting for him at Lawrence was hard to pass up.

“My experience at Baker has been amazing,” Dooley said. “It was a difficult decision to walk away from there… but having my older son go through (college) and finish up his collegiate career, it brings a little realization that it goes a lot faster than you think.”

Dooley has spent many years coaching college basketball in the NAIA, but he has spent the last couple of summers coaching AAU basketball, which gives him some recent experience in the level of basketball that the Lions will face.

The college coaching experience Dooley has also will come in handy for his teams’ senior classes. He knows what college coaches are looking for and can provide his team with guidance when it comes to recruitment.

Dooley has also spent some time watching the Lions over the last two years with Joey on the team. He’s seen a young team over the last two seasons grow and develop while playing some high-level competition in the Sunflower League. Dooley said the competitiveness of the team stood out and that how the team competes will be crucial.

“If we build this competitive program and competitive environment, you’re going to earn whatever you get,” Dooley said. “That’s what I firmly believe, and I want all those guys to know that no matter what’s happened in the past, everybody has got a fresh start and is going to earn whatever they get out of it.”

There are a few things that Dooley emphasized with his teams at Baker, the biggest of which being stressing the importance of the little details in the game and in life. As for how the team will play schematically, Dooley said the team will have a similar play style to the teams he coached at Baker.

“It is a little bit different in terms of rules and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, most of it’s still basketball,” Dooley said. “You put kids in the best position they can be to have success while making it a competitive environment.”

Dooley will meet the team within a week, but Dooley won’t get to really start coaching the team until November. Until then, Dooley will be focused on communicating with his team and getting the returning Lions excited about what’s in store.

“I think it’ll be pretty easy for everybody to join in and buy in and be excited about it,” Dooley said.