MOREHEAD, Ky.—Morehead State men’s basketball coach
Donnie Tyndall announced Monday the hiring of Jareem Dowling as an assistant coach. Dowling joins Eagle basketball after three years in a similar capacity at Slippery Rock.
Dowling will assist in all aspects of the program, including recruiting, practice and game preparation, and player development. He will also be responsible for monitoring player academics.
“I am excited about the opportunity to work for coach Donnie Tyndall and Morehead State University,” Dowling said. “It’s been a goal of mine to be a Division I assistant coach. I am elated be a part of Morehead State and its basketball program.”
Dowling, who just completed his third season at Slippery Rock, has helped lead the Rock to three straight winning seasons, including 21-win campaigns in 2008-09 and 2010-11. Dowling is the top assistant coach for SRU bench boss Kevin Reynolds, a former Morehead State assistant coach under Tyndall.
“Jareem brings an incredible amount of success with him to Morehead State,” Tyndall said. “He has won on every level, both as a player and as a coach and was mentored by some of the best coaches in the country, including one of my closest friends in the business, Kevin Reynolds.”
Prior to Slippery Rock, Dowling was a three-year assistant to legendary junior college coach Bill Lewit at Cecil College. Dowling’s recruiting and scouting were integral parts of three Cecil teams that compiled a 97-6 record from 2005-08. Cecil won three Maryland state regular-season championships, three state tournament titles, two regional championships, two Holiday Tournament championships and the 2006 NJCAA Division II national championship during Dowling’s tenure. The Seahawks finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation in each of those three seasons.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Jareem’s accomplishments will benefit our players and our program and allow us to keep the level of success we’ve established at MSU,” Tyndall said. “We are excited to welcome him into the Eagle family.”
Originally from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dowling moved to Wilmington, Del., during his high school years. He led Howard High School to the Blue Hen Flight B Championship game and the state final four as a senior. Dowling earned Honorable Mention All-State and First Team All-Conference honors that season, also securing a spot in the Delaware State Blue and Gold All-Star Game, in which he scored 19 points.
Dowling was a two-year starter at Cecil, leading the team to the 2000-01 Maryland JUCO regular-season championship. He earned All-Tournament honors during the state tournament and received the team’s Hustle Award and Defense Award. After an injury sidelined him for the 2001-02 season, Dowling led the Seahawks to the Region XX Championship and the NJCAA Division II final four in 2002-03. His two-year record at Cecil was 51-11 and he played with nine eventual Division I players.
Dowling then transferred to Maryland Eastern Shore, where he was a two-year starter and ranked second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in minutes per game as a senior. He scored a career-high 22 points, including five 3-pointers, against Baylor. He earned his degree in sociology from UMES in 2005.
In addition to his college coaching experience, Dowling has coached on the international stage as well. He earned the prestigious honor of being selected as head coach of the US Virgin Islands 17 and Under National Team. Dowling was also an assistant for the USVI Senior National Team under former Rhode Island, UCLA and Georgia coach Jim Harrick and current Jackson State coach Tevester Anderson.
Dowling led the 17 and Under National Team to a silver medal finish in the Caribbean Basketball Championships competition in Antiqua and Barbuda in the summer of 2008. That same year, he again served as an assistant to Anderson for the Senior Men’s National Team, which captured a silver medal in Centro Basket 2008 competition in Cancun, Mexico. Following the silver medal finish in the CBC, Dowling again led Junior National to a bronze medal finish in Centro Basket in 2009 in Aguascalientes, Mexico to advance in Tournament Americas for the first time in his country’s history in junior play.
Dowling replaces Joseph Price, who left to be Pat Knight’s top assistant at Lamar.
The Eagles finished the 2010-11 season with a school record-tying 25 wins, marking the first time in school history the program has posted three consecutive 20-win seasons. The Eagles won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the second time in three years and upset fourth-seeded Louisville in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It marked the second time in three years MSU won an NCAA Tournament game.
