It’s rare to see a head coach jump from one program to another within the same conference, but that is exactly what happened in the MAAC on Tuesday. Marist is hiring John Dunne to lead the Red Foxes after 12 years as the head coach at Saint Peter’s.
Dunne has had three winning seasons out of twelve at Saint Peter’s, most recently leading the Peacocks to 23 wins and a CIT title in 2017. He is 153-225 overall during his tenure, making one trip to the NCAA Tournament by way of the 2011 MAAC Tournament crown.
Marist has been to the NCAA Tournament just twice (1986 and 1987), both when led by future NBA All-Star Rik “The Dunking Dutchman” Smits. Previous head coach Mike Maker was fired in March after failing to crack double-digit win totals in any of his four seasons at the helm.
Though SPU is close by, the hiring marks a return to the Empire State for Dunne, a Queens native and Ithaca College grad. It will be his first coaching gig in New York since he spent two years as an assistant at Siena under Paul Hewitt and Louis Orr.
For the record, the last head coach to go directly to a conference foe as head coach was Duggar Baucom in 2015. Though VMI had only been in the SoCon for one year, Baucom left the Keydets to take the job at The Citadel.Â
