After one season as the head coach of the freshman team at her alma mater Upland High School, Dowling was a graduate assistant and academic advisor at Pepperdine for two seasons. She returned to Pepperdine in 2010 as an assistant coach after two seasons as an assistant at Cal State Bakersfield before leaving to be the head coach at Division III program Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.[3] At Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, she rebounded from a 9–16 record in her first season to winning six consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular season titles and a SCIAC Coach of the Year award in 2015.[4]
Dowling was named the head coach at Pepperdine in 2019, marking her third stint with the program.[2]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion