Mike Dooley-Conrad Weiser

Mike Dooley hasn’t even coached his first varsity game at Conrad Weiser, but there’s already a buzz about the Scouts. After going (2-8) in the regular season of the West Reading Summer League, Conrad Weiser has reached the championship game. The Scouts knocked off Warwick 41-34 in overtime in the semifinals on Wednesday night. “This is a huge win for our program. We’ve gone on a little Cinderella run,” said Dooley. He was hired on May 17th as Conrad Weiser’s new boys basketball head coach. Dooley takes over for Rich Miller who spent two seasons at the helm in Robesonia. Dooley has ties to the area. His fiancée is a Conrad Weiser graduate who played at Alvernia. Dooley trained several of his current varsity players when they were kids. “It’s kind of full circle for me, just excited to be back in the area and excited to work with this group,” he replied. The Scouts top two scorers are returning in Donovan Gingrich and Brady McKee. Gingrich, who’s also Conrad Weiser’s starting quarterback, averaged a team-high 14 points as a sophomore with 58 three-pointers. He was an all-division selection. McKee provided 12 points per game and connected 57 times from beyond the arc. “They’re our cornerstones. They’re our leaders, our most vocal guys which is great,” noted Dooley. Gingrich poured in 23 points in the semifinal victory over Warwick. The Scouts will take on Berks Catholic in Thursday’s final. Dooley said Josh Plummer, Gavin Rapp, Alex Malone, and James Arnold are other players to watch this winter. Dooley has experience at both the college and high school levels. He spent the past two years with the men’s basketball team at Spire Academy in Ohio. Dooley was the girls basketball head coach at Pottsville from 2019-21. He served as an assistant with the Alvernia women’s team from 2017-19. Prior to that, he was an assistant girls basketball coach at Phoenixville from 2014-16. Dooley knows the competition in Berks County is tough. Reading, Exeter, and Berks Catholic all won District 3 titles a season ago. The Red Knights captured state gold and the Eagles reached the PIAA-5A championship game. Conrad Weiser finished (7-15) last year. It’s early, but the signs surrounding the Scouts are pointing in the right direction.