ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A 6-foot-3 man in all black sneakers, black athletic pants and a white Marist basketball quarter-zip sat for just over two minutes during the 1 hour, 57 minute quarterfinal matchup between Marist and Quinnipiac.
No, it was not graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell who led the team in minutes on the court. This man stands three inches taller and is about 30 years older. He is not a player. He is the head coach.
If you have ever attended a Marist men’s basketball game in the past eight years, odds are your eyes have been drawn to the sidelines by John Dunne’s constant motion.
From youth to professional sports, athletes are told by their coaches not to hang their head; body language is important. That message must have passed by Dunne or gone in one ear and out the other.
In one game, Dunne cycles through countless hand motions, from holding up a five, pointing down the court, twirling his fingers, clapping, crossing his arms, throwing up in the air in frustration, before folding them again.
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck filled Jim Wheelan Boardwalk Hall as the starting lineups were about to be announced. With the Marist cheer and dance teams holding their pom poms in the air, Dunne gathered his starting five in front of him, with everyone else behind for his final talk before tip-off.
As the teams took the floor, Dunne talked to his colleague Mike Ferraro, the sports information director for Marist men’s basketball. Ferraro sat in his usual spot on press row, the seat closest to Dunne and his bench. But this time was not a regular-season MAAC game; it was the postseason, and it could have been the last pre-game talk of the season between the two.
Dunne’s mouth never closed. Not once. Between the gum he chewed for the entirety of the game and the constant direction and play calling, his mouth remained open.
As Marist moved to offense, Dunne moved to, moving his hands to his hips. Every second he could, he would talk to the refs and players on the court. The players he talked to the most: sophomore guard Justin Menard and junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts.
Collins-Roberts marks Dunne’s first named captain in eight years, with obvious mutual respect between the two. As Menard seemed to echo Dunne’s voice to the players on the court.
Dunne’s first timeout came at the 14th minute, as the Marist band played Don’t Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John. Dunne appeared visibly annoyed at his team, which was trailing 16-9.
Dunne grew more annoyed, flailing his arms, pacing as much of the baseline as he could. As his defense stood in a low defensive stance, Dunne joined them, shuffling down the court and yelling.
In the ninth minute of the first half, Marist went on a 10-0 run, but looking just at Dunne, you would never know that his team just came back and now led 21-19.
As Menard would raise his arms to shoot, Dunne’s shoulders would rise with him, and as the ball rimmed around and out, the head coach’s shoulders would drop and his arms would smack the air.
Dunne’s actions on the sidelines can be compared to those of a ventriloquist. Dunne directed every possession from the sideline, pointing, clapping and shouting instructions as if he could control every movement himself. But he’s obviously just a coach; he can’t control the fouls, mismatches on defense, or sloppy turnovers. All he can do is direct from the sidelines and hope they can hear him over the growing crowd in Boardwalk Hall.
With a scouting report in hand and no superpowers, he yelled and pointed to his defense who to cover and what plays to run on offense. After bad plays, Dunne would turn to the bench and gesture to show how the defense should have moved or where the offense went wrong.
At halftime, he jogged through the tunnel with his team, still no smile because he knew this was Marist and MAAC basketball; a 10-point lead can evaporate in just a handful of possessions. He was right.
Swiftly, that 10-point lead turned into a tie game at 49, and a senior forward, Trace Salton was ejected.
Back out for the second half, Dunne took his first seat on the green upholstered black metal chair set up for him at the end of the bench. He stayed seated for exactly one minute and then got back on his feet.
Sometimes, associate head coach Dalip Bhatia would attempt to talk to Dunne. Dunne would either look on and listen with him standing behind, or at other times, Dunne would simply wave him away.
He looked at his sheet and his limited bench and went through in his head how Marist could escape the game with a win.
Dunne crouched on the sideline, yelling in his players’ ears as they ran past.
He sat for the third time mid-second half with 10 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock. By 10:24, it was a one-point game with a score of 51-50; three of his players were in foul trouble, and Dunne was back up. There was no time for him to sit down.
Dunne celebrated for the first time, with eight minutes and 19 seconds remaining, when senior forward Amarri Monroe got his third foul, sending junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts to the line. With forward Jaden Daughtry sitting waiting to get subbed in, Dunne reached over for a high-five, and that was that, back to arms crossed.
Everyone knew the magnitude of this game: a win and their season continued, a loss and they’d go back to the hotel, pack their bags and head home on a bus for three and a half hours, no more basketball.
Dunne then took a seat for the third time with seven minutes and 20 seconds on the clock. Quinnipiac took a 57-55 lead. Dunne held his hand on his cheek, looking on. He stood back up on the next Quinnipiac offensive possession.
As Menard jumped up and down, celebrating a 3-pointer to put Marist up 70-67, Dunne jumped with his hands all away up, yelling to get back on defense.
Menard’s back-to-back three-pointers sent every Red Fox fan in the place to get up on their feet. Dunne, on the other hand, squatted and looked at the other half of the court focussing on how they can stop the Bobcats again.
Quinnipiac called a timeout with less than a minute remaining, with the scoreboard reading 73-67. Out of the timeout, Dunne grabbed his water from in front of Ferraro for the first time since he placed it there.
When Marist scored again, Dunne gave two small claps, but no smile, as every Marist fan now stood on their feet for the remainder of the game.
Dunne stood at midcourt as Randall sank a three to make it a two-point game, and as Randall scored, Collins-Roberts fouled him. Randall made the free throw, shrinking the deficit to one. No wonder why Dunne had no plans on smiling until he saw three zeros on the clock.
Freshman guard Tai Turnage immediately fouled Collins-Roberts, with a chance for redemption on the one-and-one. Before the first made shot, Dunne talked to the ref. On the second, he yelled at Kambamba to move up in the press, with no eyes on whether the foul shots went in.
The final seconds consisted of Dunne crouched over, holding his knees.
Blackwell at the line, Dunne sipped more water and went back to standing with his arms crossed and eight seconds away from a win.
As senior forward Jaden Daughtry put his hands up for a game-winning block, Dunne simultaneously threw up his arms. With his hands in fists, Dunne jumped, and if you looked quickly enough, let out a smile and a yell of “Yes” on his landing.
He quickly collected himself and went back to his usual demeanor and shook the hands of the Quinnipiac team and staff.
For the first time all night, Dunne allowed himself a smile. The Marist Red Foxes were headed to the semifinals.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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