‘We gotta make this happen:’ Why Eastern Michigan captain Brian Dooley gave his scholarship to a teammate

YPSILANTI, Mich. — Sidling up to the lectern on an August Tuesday, Eastern Michigan offensive lineman Brian Dooley exuded mid-camp energy. 

Sporting a green EMU polo and matching shorts with some gray Adidas slides, Dooley appeared freshly cleaned up post-practice for an early afternoon media session this Tuesday. Exchanging a fist bump with head coach Chris Creighton before arriving at the front of the room, Dooley’s vibe belied the life-changing sacrifice he’d made a few days prior.

The viral moment — captured in a video that EMU tweeted late last week — involved Dooley handing out a scholarship to walk-on offensive lineman Zack Conti in front of the entire team. Conti, a fifth-year offensive lineman competing to start at tackle for the Eagles, wasn’t getting an 85th scholarship that Creighton had to spare. With Eastern Michigan maxed out at 85 scholarships, Dooley, a graduate student, made the decision to offer his own scholarship to Conti.

It was a selfless act that briefly captivated plenty of observers. But the moment also offered a window into who Dooley is and his willingness to help others. He maintained that if it wasn’t Conti in need of his scholarship, there would’ve been another teammate he’d had given it off to.

“Brian Dooley. When I grow up,  I want to be like him someday,” Creighton said. “You know, I’ve done this for a bunch of years and I just — I’ve never seen it and I’ve never heard of it before.”

Conti wasn’t made available to reporters. The somewhat unexpected outpouring of support and attention was overwhelming and Conti didn’t feel comfortable discussing his situation, an Eastern Michigan spokesperson said. 

It brought Dooley’s decision into an even starker focus, though. 

The idea to give up his scholarship first came up around the end of spring, Dooley said. Conti was among the most consistent players getting extra reps after practice, a workout or a film session. He had spent the entire offseason working lockstep alongside a team captain and starter while pursuing a scholarship of his own.

But as Creighton said Tuesday, being a hard worker isn’t going to earn you a scholarship on it’s own in his program — it’s simply expected. But with Conti going above and beyond on and off the field, Dooley took note. Eventually, Conti shared some of the details of his financial situation with Dooley and how he probably couldn’t make it work another season. 

In the video EMU shared, Creighton told the team how Conti had sold his own plasma to make ends meet. Dooley knew there was even more going on for Conti to make ends meet. During the summers when the offensive linemen had workouts in the morning and not much else going on, Conti worked a landscaping job while his teammates might be lounging by the pool. 

“We’d always ask ‘Where’s Conti at? Where’s he at?’ You know, he was always working,” Dooley said.

Dooley shared that Conti’s mother, Karen, is in need of a kidney transplant. 

And with costs — for tuition, for housing, for utilities, food, books, gas and everything else in life — adding up, Conti potentially couldn’t afford to stay in school for the time being. Even if it meant sacrificing football.

That revelation led Dooley to a conversation with their position coach, Sean Coughlin, and Creighton

“It hit hard. I went to coach Creighton and coach Coughlin, my O line coach, I was like, ‘You know, we gotta make this happen. I’ve got two classes left to finish my master’s degree. Just told me he’s got another year and a half. That scholarship can help him more than it’s gonna help me, in my opinion,” Dooley said. 

And so Dooley, Coughlin and Creighton did make it happen. But not before Dooley made a very critical call.

“A lot of people don’t usually hear their moms cry a lot,” Dooley said. “My mom kind of started crying a little bit. So that hit me there. I knew I was doing the right thing. But, you know, it wasn’t really about me.”

Dooley, certainly, is in a position to afford such a sacrifice. He’s a graduate student with just a pair of courses left to obtain his masters degree, meaning tuition and associated costs will be relatively low. Plus, Dooley has been the beneficiary of his scholarship for years, allowing him and his family to be secure enough to do this.

And if he has to personally take out a loan, he’s fully prepared to do that. Once it was evident that a scholarship could do so much for Conti — so much more than it was currently doing for him — Dooley had made his mind up.

It didn’t hurt that the specific recipient was a fellow offensive lineman, either. Often a close knit group on a given team, the Eastern Michigan offensive line is no different. Dooley explained the bonds within the group and specifically how he and Conti have grown closer and closer through the years.

There’s the obvious: Time spent in and around the football facility practicing, working out, eating, hitting the training table, and so on. But there’s class and academic obligations. Plus, Conti and Dooley live two doors down from each other in their apartment complex. Their relationship extends well beyond football.

Their dogs — Zeus, a Pitbull Terrier-Cane Corso belonging to Dooley, and Margot, Conti’s Labrador Retriever — are even friends.

“He’ll probably be the best man at my wedding,” Dooley said. “I mean, he is — he’s just that kind of a guy.”

In the days since Dooley handed Conti that envelope in a team meeting, they’ve been talking regularly. Dooley said he’s still getting plenty of gratitude from Conti and his family — he’s gotten to know Todd and Karen Conti over the years of being teammates with their son. And though not nearly to the same degree, he’s been mildly overwhelmed by the whole saga at times.

And that overwhelming emotion wasn’t necessarily something Dooley expected, given that he’d have been willing to do the same for any of his teammates.

Perhaps that mindset is why, standing at a lectern before a room of reporters, Dooley made things feel like just another Tuesday during the grind of fall camp. He was nonchalant, open and thoughtful when discussing his decision and its impact, all while keeping the focus on how deserving his teammate was. 

Because giving up his scholarship to Conti didn’t feel like an extreme measure. It’s just the kind of person Dooley is.