Parenting & Family Quote by Thomas Dooley

There is a particular kind of ambition that shows up once an athlete has stopped needing the spotlight to prove they belong in it. Dooley is talking like someone who has already paid the price of entry and now wants to translate that cost into a map for younger players. The repetition of "I want" reads less like ego and more like self-assignment: a public commitment that frames mentorship as work, not charity. "Dedicate my time" is the tell. Time is the one resource elite athletes guard most fiercely, and he is naming it as the real donation.

The line also carries the quiet subtext of frustration with how often talent gets mislabeled as destiny. "What it takes" and "what they need to do" are intentionally blunt phrases; they shift the conversation away from raw ability and toward habits, discipline, and the unglamorous mechanics of improvement. It's a corrective to highlight-reel culture. He is insisting that "this level" isn't a vibe, it's a standard with receipts: training sessions, decisions, sacrifices, and the mental endurance to keep showing up when nobody is watching.

Context matters here: athletes increasingly occupy roles once reserved for coaches, scouts, and development programs, partly because institutional pipelines can be uneven or inaccessible. Dooley's statement positions him as a bridge between worlds, offering credibility that can't be faked. It's also legacy talk without the sentimentality. Instead of saying he wants to "give back", he names the process: train, teach, prepare. That practical specificity is what makes it land.