Michael Gregory Dunlap (born May 27, 1957) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is the head coach for the Colorado Mesa Mavericks men's basketball team. He is the former head coach of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

's Charlotte Bobcats, and also worked as an assistant coach for the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

during their most recent NBA championship.

Career

Dunlap attended Lathrop High School in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a Municipal home rule, home rule city and the county seat, borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior Alaska, interior region of Alaska and the second la ...

, where he played

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He played as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks in 1976. Dunlap became the first basketball player from Alaska to finish their collegiate career at an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

school when he graduated from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

as a member of the Lions basketball team in 1980. Dunlap served three seasons in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(1994–1996) as head coach of the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

in the National Basketball League. Dunlap was successful in taking the team to the NBL Grand Final in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

against the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital ...

and the semi-finals in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Over his three season in Adelaide Dunlap compiled a 59–36 record before returning to the USA just weeks before the 1997 season following the sudden death of his father. Dunlap is credited as the coach who kick-started the NBL career of the 36ers all-time leading home grown player Brett Maher. He served as head coach at Metro State in Denver (1997–2006). As the leader of the Metro State Roadrunners Dunlap led the program to 2 National Championships in the 2000 and 2002 seasons. As the Architect of the greatest years in the Roadrunner history he was named The National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the year in 2000 and 2002. He was assistant coach for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

(2006–2008). He served as associate head coach at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

(2008–2009) and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

(2009–2010), and was interim head coach and associate head coach at St. John's University (2010–2012). In the

2011–12 NBA season The 2011–12 NBA season was the 66th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to the 2011 NBA lockout, lockout, the regular season was reduced to 66 games for each team, and began on December 25, 2011, coinciding with NBA Christm ...

the Charlotte Bobcats record was an NBA worst ever 7–59. Dunlap joined the team on June 20, 2012. In the early part of the 2012–13 season, the Bobcats had a 7–5 record, with Charlotte matching its win total from the previous season. However, at that point they suffered many injuries and played many young players. They ultimately finished 21–61. Dunlap became the only coach in NBA history to triple a team's win total from the previous season. On April 23, 2013, the Bobcats announced that Dunlap would not be returning as coach. Dunlap joined Loyola Marymount as head coach in 2014. During his tenure at Loyola Marymount, Dunlap helped guide steady growth in the Lions from an 8–23 team in the 2014–15 season to 15–15 by 2016–17. In the 2018–19 season, Dunlap led the lions to a 22-win season. They were crowned the champions of the Jamaica Classic, where they upset Georgetown University. The 2018–2019 season culminated in an appearance in the 2019 College Basketball Invitational. This is the third-best record in the history of the program. With a very impressive group of returning players and a good incoming recruiting class, the 2019–20 season appeared to be bright. Season-ending injuries to 2 starters and a tragedy in another starter's family made Dunlap and the Lions play short-handed during the entire 2019–20 season. LMU and Dunlap agreed to part ways after six seasons on March 8, 2020. Dunlap finished his career at his alma mater with 81 total wins, which is fifth-most all-time in program history. On November 17, 2020, Dunlap was hired as an assistant coach by the

. Dunlap won his first championship when the Bucks defeated the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

in 6 games in the 2021 NBA Finals. He departed the team when

Adrian Griffin Adrian Darnell Griffin Sr. (born July 4, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as the head coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA a ...

replaced

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who most recently served as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Budenholzer previously head coached the M ...

as head coach and hired a new coaching staff. On April 15, 2024, Dunlap was hired as head coach of the Colorado Mesa Mavericks men's basketball team.

Coaching record

NBA

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NBL

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College

References

External links

Loyola Marymount profile

– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...