Home > Sports

Dunlap's legacy leaves big shoes to fill for Roadrunners
By Matt Gunn
gunnma@mscd.edu

Mike Dunlap is a professional.

That statement, however, was true of Metro’s former basketball coach long before he was hired as the Denver Nuggets’ newest assistant coach.

Dunlap gave the Roadrunners an identity. Before his tenure the school’s athletic program was an also-ran. Sure, there had been a couple decent teams before the Dunlap era, but there was never anything worthy of much attention. In the nine years since Dunlap took over the men’s basketball team, he brought the school its first two NCAA championships.

Through his 248 wins, Dunlap earned the respect of the entire Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, along with that of basketball aficionados across the country. While admittedly the Buffaloes compete in Division I, Dunlap won as many games in nine years as the University of Colorado did in 16. It’s difficult to find comparison to the Roadrunners’ record among college teams.

Dunlap proved that teams from an unknown commuter school in Denver could compete, and because of that, Metro is now able to hire great coaches and recruit top-tier players.

It was the stability within Metro’s athletic department that kept Dunlap around for so long. He said in the past that he would only leave for a school that could demonstrate its commitment to winning. Though he had spoken with other college programs, nothing was as good a fit. That the Nuggets could convince Dunlap to leave Metro speaks volumes about that team’s dedication.

The Roadrunners’ bench will look a little different without him pacing up and down courtside, and his successor will have to adjust to the path Dunlap wore into the hardwood.

Now that assistant coach Brannon Hays will take the clipboard as Metro’s new leader. It would seem, in fact, that Dunlap has been grooming Hays for the position. Hays played for Dunlap’s team at California Lutheran University. He was an assistant for Dunlap for Metro’s first championship in 2000. And, like Dunlap, Hays coached in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Hays returned to Metro after five seasons as the head coach of Colorado Christian University. In that time, he coached the Cougars into the NCAA polls and to a 38-18 record in his final two seasons. He accomplished far more than anyone should be able to at a school like Colorado Christian. The Roadrunners are an experienced team after going through growing pains last year. If Hays takes the job, he has the potential to maintain the ’Runners’ winning ways.

Though Dunlap’s new home is only about a quarter mile away from the Auraria Event Center, the experience will be markedly different. The players he will coach are bigger and faster, and they ]have larger egos. However, Dunlap has gotten results everywhere he’s coached. It won’t be long before the NBA knows what Mike Dunlap can do.