Donovan Dowling was announced as the men's soccer head coach in June 2022. He is the third head coach in the program’s history.
During the 2023 campaign, Dowling led the Mavericks to a 8-8-4 overall record. With a 3-3-2 conference record, Dowling and the Mavericks finished third in the Summit League. As the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, Dowling led the Mavericks to a 1-0 shutout win over No. 2 Oral Roberts in the semifinals. Under Dowling's direction, the Mavericks were crowned the Summit League Champions with a 2-0 shutout over Kansas City. With their second ever Summit League Championship title, the Mavericks earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mavericks Omaha were represented on the 2023 Summit MSOC All-Academic team by midfielder Thore Boehm, forward Ede Gramberg, forward Theo Klein, and goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah, who was named Championship MVP after Omaha won its second Summit League Championship. All told, the Mavericks collected nine Summit League postseason accolades. Theo Klein was named to the All-Summit League First Team, and Jason Casillas to the second team, They were joined by Gonzalo Cuevas, Gramberg, Lago and Sallah as Honorable Mention. Casillas and Lago were both named to All-Newcomer Team. Additionally, Klein was a third team selection to the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Team.
In 2022 Dowling led the Mavericks to a 8-6-2 overall record. With their 5-2-1 conference record, Dowling and the Mavericks finished third in the Summit League.
Dowling coached the Mavericks to two big wins at the last two home matches of the 2022 season. Omaha blanked Lindenwood 5-0 then shut out Eastern Illinois 4-0.
All told, the Mavericks collected eight postseason accolades and three Peak Performers of the Week. The postseason honors include All-Summit League First Team awarded to Gonzalo Cuevas, Kenji Mboma Dem, Lute Lillo Portero, and Tevin Rochester. Theo Klein and Cuevas both earned a spot on the All-Summit Newcomer team and Cuevas notched a spot on the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Third Team. Aside from the success on the pitch, Lute Lillo Portero was honored on the Academic All-Summit League Team. The team as a whole posted a 3.49 gpa and was honored by the United Soccer Coaches for their excellence in the classroom.
Dowling came to Omaha after a four-year stint with the Louisville Cardinals serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He helped lead the program to 36 wins, three NCAA tournament appearances and a Sweet 16 finish.
Louisville made the NCAA tournament in three of Dowling’s four seasons with the program. In his last season, the Cardinals earned a share of the regular season title en route to an NCAA tournament appearance. In 2019, Louisville made a run to the Sweet 16 with wins over USF and UC Davis.
In his first season at Louisville, the Cardinals clinched the program’s first ACC title after defeating No. 18 Notre Dame, No. 1 Wake Forest, and No. 4 North Carolina. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament that season.
Dowling also led the charge for Louisville recruiting and is recognized as one of the nation’s top recruiters. In three consecutive seasons, he brought in recruiting classes ranked in the national top-20. The 2020 recruiting class ranked sixth, the 2021 recruiting class ranked eighth, and the 2019 recruiting class ranked 20
th. Twelve of Dowling’s players went on to be drafted or signed by MLS or USL Championship teams.
While at Louisville, Dowling helped Cardinal student-athletes achieve a 3.2 team GPA to go with an APR over 975. He led the squad in community service efforts posting the most community service hours of any male sport at the university. He also served as chair of the Louisville Assistant Coach Academy and participated in the ACC Coaching the Whole Athlete Winter Cohort.
Prior to Louisville, Dowling served a three-year stint with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). He helped restart the NCAA Division I program in 2015, serving as the team’s top assistant coach. With UTRGV, he was the lead recruiting coordinator overseeing all recruiting efforts and managing scholarship offers.
Among his other duties, Dowling was responsible for opponent scouts, scheduling on-field training, team periodization and sports science, compliance, team academic, admissions and financial aid support, equipment oversight, and team travel.
While coaching at UTRGV, Dowling simultaneously served as the goalkeeper coach for Rio Grande Valley FC. He spent the 2016 and 2017 MLS preseasons training with the Houston Dynamo.
From 2013-14, Dowling served as the head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Northeast Texas Community College. He helped the men achieve a 2014 DI NJCAA National Tournament appearance and was named a finalist for the NSCAA Junior College National Coach of the Year award. He coached both teams to the most wins in program history after his arrival.
Dowling’s collegiate coaching career began in 2011. He served as an assistant coach with Fort Hays State in Kansas through the 2012 season. There, Dowling helped start the soccer program, eventually leading the squad to a NCAA Division II Sweet 16 appearance in 2012.
Dowling played four years of college soccer. He closed his career with two seasons at Purdue Fort Wayne earning All-Summit League recognition. He can be found throughout the Mastadons record book, including categories such as goals against average and shutouts in a season.
He played his first two collegiate seasons at Barton County Community College, where he was a Third Team All-American and First Team NSCAA All-Region and All-Conference honoree, leading his team to the No. 2 ranking in the nation while serving as the sophomore captain. A two-year starter, Dowling compiled a 39-4-2 record during his career.
A native of Olathe, Kansas, Dowling earned his bachelor of general studies from Indiana and added a master of science in sports and human performance from Fort Hays State.
