Updated 7:10 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025:
Lawrence police arrested University of Kansas men’s assistant basketball coach Joe Dooley in west Lawrence on Saturday on the suspicion of driving under the influence and failure to stop at an accident, according to the Douglas County Jail logs.
The information on the jail booking log shows Dooley was arrested at 11:15 p.m. on Saturday in the 200 block of Running Ridge Road, which is located in the upscale Fall Creek Farms neighborhood of northwest Lawrence.
The booking log shows Dooley was arrested on the suspicion of driving under the influence, failure to stop at an accident with injury or damage over $1,000, and transporting an open container.
A spokeswoman with the Lawrence Police Department said officers were dispatched to Running Ridge Road at about 10:45 p.m. when someone reported a driver had hit a stone pillar at the entrance to a driveway, and then continued on down the road.
Officer in the area saw a stopped vehicle that matched the description. After making contact with the driver, officers suspected Dooley had been drinking. After administering a field sobriety test, Dooley was taken into custody without incident, LPD spokeswoman Laura McCabe said via email on Sunday evening.
The jail log shows Dooley was released on a low-level bond early Sunday morning.
KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self on Sunday acknowledged the arrest and announced Dooley would be suspended from his coaching duties.
“We are aware Assistant Coach Joe Dooley was arrested for driving under the influence,” Self said in a statement. “Joe exercised poor judgement and will be suspended for three weeks, effective immediately. Joe is remorseful, apologetic and accepts the consequences of his actions.”
Dooley is in his second stint as an assistant under Self. He previously worked on Self’s staff from the 2003-04 to 2012-13 seasons. Dooley served as the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast and East Carolina before returning to KU in the summer of 2022 as the director of student-athlete development.
Dooley is now in the fourth season of his second stint with the Jayhawks, for whom he currently holds the title of assistant coach, and 14th overall. A native of West Orange, New Jersey, Dooley played basketball at George Washington and started his collegiate coaching career at South Carolina. He has also coached at New Mexico and Wyoming.
Other primary assistant coaches on Self’s staff include Jeremy Case (recently promoted to associate head coach), Kurtis Townsend, and the newly hired Jacque Vaughn and Tony Bland.
“There’s really not much else to say because it just recently occurred,” Self told reporters at his regular press conference on Sunday afternoon. “But that’s where we’re at. We’ll deal with it, he’ll deal with it. We’ll address it and make the most of it.”
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