The Mike Dunlap Thread

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Sports CLT ‏@sportsclt
With the hiring of Dunlap, does that mean #bobcats will take Drummond or MKG, two high-potential projects?

Especially with the signing of that Assist Coach who has a knack for reaching players.

Now if "MJ picks" Drummond you know what comparison it would trigger... would be great to prove them wrong.

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We hired Dunlap for the lulz, you guys realize this right? Hiring Shaw or Quinn would not produce enough lulz.

We held finalist hostage to troll Portland search for a coach and get a better pick then

[freakon0mics]

I'll be honest, it doesn't matter who we hire. Have you guys seen our roster? We have a D-League team. Kudos to Dunlap for taking a chance to make something good out of nothing.

[doc.end]

After reading through all this Dunlap doesn't scream to me as a guy I would get along well but for coach of my favourite team he may be a good fit. Hopefully he knows what he is doing and is not just intense (that pours from his pictures). If Cho's plan is to collect low profile basketball junkies I'll give him benefit of the doubt (it is not like things in his mind leaks to media and I can see how the coach recruiting was partially a smokescreen - since Rich is with the franchise, we know nothing until it actually happens, like in case of Biyombo draft day deal).

Regarding Dunlap fitting more into college basketball full of development than NBA, maybe if he proves capable to develop players for NBA game and would get us over the hump (which supposedly could meant he would stopped being the right man, if he just needs an outsider team to get better and may not do well in winning environment - do I read those signs right?), he may be a good candidate for our NBDL team if we would ever have our own.

[Fred Williamson]

I don't even know who that is. I keep my expectations low though

[S.W.A.N]

I like this move for you guys.

It shows that MJ is letting Cho run the show and rebuild properly. Bringing in two coaches that are going to focus heavily on player development.

With a commitment to rebuilding via the draft you have to have a coach willing to accept that losses are not only okay but a desirable outcome. Having a coach on board with this principle is important for true player development.

Hiring a more experienced guy would get you more wins and what ever vets you trade for would be getting played a lot, but with a 'fresh face' you can commit to playing young guys for a couple more seasons and get the top picks that can eventually become starts.

This hiring confirms the cats commitment to losing, and for once I applaud an MJ decision because its the right one for the long term development of this team.

[MPM]

OK, like everyone else I woke up this morning and was like WTF? I didn't even know we interviewed this cat.

In any case, I had a fleeting love affair with the idea of Sloan, but was never that sold on Snyder or Shaw. Dunlap seems like a highly regarded, left field pick and I agree he reeks of Cho. I'm just as on board with this selection as I would have been with either of the other 'finalists.'

We all know the 'MJ is bringing in an unknown because he is cheap' thing is BS. Evidence? LB. How did that work out? Won't matter though - MJ (and only MJ) will be loudly and widely panned for this because he is every NBA hacks' favorite punching bag. The fact is that it was going to be impossible for MJ and crew to hire an unknown without being called cheap - it's an easy punchline. They would have had to pull Phil Jackson out of a lotus pose to avoid all criticism.

[MPM]

Gotta admit, some funny comments on ESPN:

"Anytime you get a chance to sign an assistant coach from the 10th best Big East team in the conference you just have to do it."

"MJ is the ultimate competitor. He lost out on the #1 pick this year but he's going to fight even harder to get it next year!!!"

[crgreen]

I am shocked yet again by this team, and cannot believe we went this route. [b]The guy has never been a head coach...at any level (filling in this past season is not equivalent)[/b]. He may be the whole enchalada, but here we go again...starting with an unknown quantity. Per others here, MJ invites the scorn and heaping piles of dung about being cheap. I am fearful of what this guy will want at #2. If he just loves an "effort" guy like MKG (who is undersized and can't shoot), I may really be done with this team.

This keeps getting misreported thru the whole thread. Mike Dunlap spent 10 years as an NCAA head coach at Div-II Metro State University. He teams won the NCAA Championship in 2000, and again in 2002. Both years, he was the NCAA D-II Coach of the Year.

Mike left Metro State for the Assistant spot with Karl and the Nuggets from 2006-2008. He left that job for Arizona, where he was Associate Head Coach to Lute Olson. When Lute's health finally gave out, he turned down the interim Head Coaching job (rightly knowing the AD had his sights set on Sean Miller as the permanent replacement). He left Arizona for Oregon, again with the title Associate Head Coach, to Ernie Kent. When Ernie was let go, he was hand picked as Associate HC by Steve Lavin - the X's and O's guy Lavin knew he needed to guarantee a successful return to coaching.

Why wasn't Mike a D-1 head coach? Simple. He's an abrasive personallity - he's a solid recruiter, but not a great one, and he can't tolerate fools, or coddle and cow-tow to entitled 16 and 17 year olds and their posse's. And he's not that "user-friendly" at the other parts of D-1 head coaching at the major level. There are 3 main responsibilities. On a scale of 1-10 in terms of coaching - prep, strategy, planning, pracice, player development, offensive strategy, defensive strategy, mid-season adjustments, mid-GAME adjustments - Mike's a 15 - maybe even a 20. On a 1-10 for recruiting, he's probably only a 4 or a 5 -he can do it (a few recruits actually like his "zero BS" personaility) but he hates it. And on that third part - the PR side. Glad handing Alumni. Kissing up to the Administration. Fund Raising ---- Mike's a 1 or 2 at best. He will tell each of them what he REALLY thinks, and WHY. Hence, he was a finalist for numerous D-1 head coaching jobs, but no AD's were willing to pull the trigger.

At the pro level, recruiting is a non-issue. Fund raising is the pervue of the Marketing Departament. Coaching is the primary issue. And you guys just got one of the absolute TOP coaching minds in basketball.

[Badd_Intentions]

He has some nice credentials but still not 100% sold on him due to his lack of nba experience.

[raleigh]

crgreen,

Do you mind me asking you how you are so familiar with Dunlap's coaching ability? If it's accurate, it reminds me of George Karl, which would explain his affection for Dunlap.

[countryboi]

I am not happy about the hire...i am not even going to try to act like i am...he is not qualified and just an extension of everything thats currently wrong with the bobcats. aint enough st johns fans in the world to convince me otherwise.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

This keeps getting misreported thru the whole thread. Mike Dunlap spent 10 years as an NCAA head coach at Div-II Metro State University. He teams won the NCAA Championship in 2000, and again in 2002. Both years, he was the NCAA D-II Coach of the Year.

Mike left Metro State for the Assistant spot with Karl and the Nuggets from 2006-2008. He left that job for Arizona, where he was Associate Head Coach to Lute Olson. When Lute's health finally gave out, he turned down the interim Head Coaching job (rightly knowing the AD had his sights set on Sean Miller as the permanent replacement). He left Arizona for Oregon, again with the title Associate Head Coach, to Ernie Kent. When Ernie was let go, he was hand picked as Associate HC by Steve Lavin - the X's and O's guy Lavin knew he needed to guarantee a successful return to coaching.

Why wasn't Mike a D-1 head coach? Simple. He's an abrasive personallity - he's a solid recruiter, but not a great one, and he can't tolerate fools, or coddle and cow-tow to entitled 16 and 17 year olds and their posse's. And he's not that "user-friendly" at the other parts of D-1 head coaching at the major level. There are 3 main responsibilities. On a scale of 1-10 in terms of coaching - prep, strategy, planning, pracice, player development, offensive strategy, defensive strategy, mid-season adjustments, mid-GAME adjustments - Mike's a 15 - maybe even a 20. On a 1-10 for recruiting, he's probably only a 4 or a 5 -he can do it (a few recruits actually like his "zero BS" personaility) but he hates it. And on that third part - the PR side. Glad handing Alumni. Kissing up to the Administration. Fund Raising ---- Mike's a 1 or 2 at best. He will tell each of them what he REALLY thinks, and WHY. Hence, he was a finalist for numerous D-1 head coaching jobs, but no AD's were willing to pull the trigger.

At the pro level, recruiting is a non-issue. Fund raising is the pervue of the Marketing Departament. Coaching is the primary issue. And you guys just got one of the absolute TOP coaching minds in basketball.

X&Os are just part of coaching an NBA team Player Management ... or even ego management ... is a big part as well. That's what I worry about with this hire.

[BigSlam]

oh dear.............

[Diop]

In Dunlap I trust

[Snidely FC]

Great. Maybe he can develop Cory Higgins.

[hotrod]

Mike Dunlap Is Coaching at Arizona, but Not for Long


By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 24, 2009
The focal point of Arizona’s run to the Round of 16 in the N.C.A.A. tournament has been the team’s curious coaching situation. It is so bizarre it almost sounds made up.


Aaron J. Latham/Associated Press
Arizona’s interim coach, Russ Pennell, left, with the associate head coach Mike Dunlap. Neither is expected to return to Arizona.


The Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who sat out last season for personal reasons, was supposed to return to the team this season, but he retired in October because of health concerns. The coach whom the 12th-seeded Wildcats wanted to take his place, albeit on an interim basis, was the associate head coach Mike Dunlap. But he refused.

“Basically, what they said at that time was that I wasn’t good enough to coach this team,” Dunlap said. “Let’s face it. That’s perfectly O.K. It’s a huge corporation, it has huge tradition. I didn’t take it personally. I understood.”

What was also understood by those around the program and those who know Dunlap was that he was the best, and perhaps most influential, coach on the staff. He won two national titles at Division II Metro State in Denver, served two years as an assistant under George Karl with the Denver Nuggets, and could be a candidate for a top job when the coaching carousel spins in the off-season.

As 12th-seeded Arizona moved into the regional semifinals on Friday against top-seeded Louisville, it is possible no coach has helped himself more in the past week than Dunlap. He is in the unusual position of having his first year at Arizona end as soon as the Wildcats lose.

“I’ll be vapor,” Dunlap said.

When Dunlap rejected the head position last October, Arizona turned to Russ Pennell, who did radio commentary for rival Arizona State last season. But Dunlap has made his presence felt on the Wildcats’ sideline. Against No. 13 Cleveland State on Sunday in Miami, he wore a path walking to Pennell to make suggestions. He appeared to make many of the substitutions without asking.

And while he has played the role of diligent assistant coach, right down to the yellow legal pad he scribbles notes on, Dunlap seems to do more.

“He’s the associate head coach, and him and Coach Pennell work together on everything,” the junior forward Chase Budinger said. “They’ve both been in the situation. Coach Dunlap has done a great job keeping each player in check with discipline and focus-wise. He gets under our skin, but in the end we know that he cares about us.”

When Jordan Hill, another junior forward, picked up his fourth foul with about seven minutes to go against Cleveland State, Dunlap popped up. He suggested that Pennell gamble and leave him in the game. Hill came out but was almost immediately sent back in.

Dunlap is known as a master tactician. His practices at Metro State focused so much on footwork and fundamentals that his players would often go hour-long stretches without touching a ball. He counts John Wooden and Pete Newell as friends and mentors.

But in an environment in which teaching and coaching are often considered less important than collecting talent and catering to powerful summer coaches, it remains to be seen if Dunlap’s vast résumé will help him get a major Division I job.

His former athletic director at Metro State, Joan McDermott, said she had not received any calls about Dunlap this year. She said he was a finalist for the California job last year and got a long look from Stanford. She says she knows what she will tell any athletic director who calls.

“He’s absolutely one of the best coaches that I’ve ever been around,” she said. McDermott added: “I know as an athletic director at those top Division I schools that sometimes it may be tough to take a chance on a guy without the big name. But he’s worth the risk. If they hired him, the rest would be history.”

Karl was equally impressed, saying: “He’s the most intelligent person that has a love for the game of basketball that I’ve ever been around. His ability to analyze and articulate and figure out the problems of day-to-day basketball was incredible for me.”

Dunlap used part of a postgame interview with reporters on Sunday to clear up any negative perception about his refusing the interim job at Arizona. He was comfortable in the face of uncomfortable questions and brutally honest.

“I didn’t like it, of course I didn’t like it,” he said about not being offered the job full time. “But you can’t have it both ways. So from that standpoint, I’m excited about my future. I knew that regardless of how the national media perceived me, you know, a mercenary wanting more years and more money, that it never got to that point. It was a point of principle. I said, ‘Hey, I’m not going to take an interim job if you’re not going to make a full commitment to me.’ I know how I am. I make a full commitment.”

Dunlap is not looking backward. He is appreciative of the opportunity afforded to him at Arizona and looking forward to his next job, wherever it is.

“They said they wanted to make a corporate decision and get someone for 10 years,” Dunlap said. “Arizona typically doesn’t move their coaches in and out. I understood that. The president was very clear about that. I appreciate the fact that he spoke straight to me.”

That leaves Dunlap one loss from career uncertainty, yet another unusual situation in this most bizarre Arizona run.

More Articles in Sports »A version of this article appeared in print on March 25, 2009, on page B12 of the New York edition.

[BobsBuddy]

Mike Dunlap..OK... Cho its your show...Lets now concentrate on moving down from #2 and Dumping TT contract and picking up a young pro stud in the process along with a top 10 pick.. Then sign and trading Augustine for draft pick from 10-16 and another young pro stud. Then grab a big time free agent off another team after July 1. That gets us started.

[-Ian-]

Greg Anthony ‏@GregAnthony50
Congrats to Coach Dunlap on the #Bobcats hire, there will be tons of criticism but the guy can flat out coach. Let's give him a chance!

[WaydownSouth]

I'm an Adelaide boy and remember when Dunlap was the coach... It was interesting times, some good times and some bad times. When he was here, he got a reputation of not working with the vets, and developed the youngsters coming through. Relates well to youth, and is a teacher, but felt threatened by the veterans.

His youth focus rubbed the wrong way with 36ers fans as the vets were well established, well liked guys. He bought JoJo English with him who was rubbish.

Dunlap bought some kids through who went on to decent NBL career's like Brett Maher, John Rillie and Martin Catalini.

Dunlap MO was a defensive style and grind it out defence. The 36ers offense over his three years was depressing at times.

His time with Adelaide was successful. He coached the team to one grand final apperance and two semi-finals in his three years here. He developed a new culture for the club and turned things around.

My guts are telling me he'll last until the All Star game and then a locker room freeze out will occur and things will hit the rotating device.

Here's a a name for a potential assistant coach, Brian Goorjian.