Dunlap got a home call
Chance to get back to his native California, reunite with his family, led to decision to leave the Edge
The door was open to Jeff Dunlap returning for another season at the helm of the St. John’s Edge, but in the end, the lure of family was too much for the Southern Californian who’s headed back home.
“The ownership group and I had talks, and I think they wanted to see where my head was,” Dunlap said from Los Angeles Sunday. “And I think they knew I was gravitating this way.
“It was entirely my decision … a family decision. I felt welcomed to come back, and I would have loved to come back. It was not a question of turning down (Edge owners) Irwin (Simon) and Rob (Sabbagh) and walking away.
“It was about reuniting family.”
Dunlap, the architect behind the successful National Basketball League of Canada expansion Edge, has returned to his college roots and his hometown where he’s been hired as one of Mark Gottfried’s assistants on the Cal State Northridge NCAA team.
The campus is close to where Dunlap grew up in North Hollywood, and his wife’s hometown of Valencia.
His in-laws, Dunlap said, live 12 miles from Cal State Northridge. Dunlap said he thoroughly enjoyed his time with Edge, especially piecing together the roster from scratch in his role as general manager, which helped him win the Ian Fowler Award as the NBL’S top executive.
What he didn’t like was being away from his family, which includes wife Deedee, 14-year-old Brady and 11-year-old Brooklin.
With the new job, the family will be uprooting from Raleigh, N.C. ,for L.A., where Jeff played his college basketball for UCLA, and Deedee at nearby Azusa Pacific University.
Dunlap returns to his NCAA roots, where he’s worked for almost 30 years.
He worked under Mark Gottfried for six seasons at North Carolina State before the coaching staff was fired following the 2016-17 season, which led to Dunlap coming north of the border last season.
Gottfried was hired by Cal State Northridge a couple of months ago, and officially added Dunlap, former UCLA coach Jim Harrick and 13-year NBA veteran Mo Williams as his assistants last week.
Dunlap worked under Harrick for five years at the University of Georgia, nearly 20 years ago. Dunlap brought Harrick to St. John’s last season where the former UCLA coach, who led the Bruins to a national championship, conducted a coaching clinic.
“Our network is strong out here,” said Dunlap, as Gottfried and Co. hope to turn around the Matadors, who went a combined 6-24 last season. “Jim is revered out here on the west coast.
“Most of what we ran last year in St. John’s was his work, which was what he learned from Coach (John) Wooden.”
The Edge went 25-15 this season — the third-best record in the 10-team NBL Canada — finishing second in the Central Division and reaching the second round of the playoffs before losing the divisional final to eventual league champs London Lighting.
Dunlap said he “really thoroughly enjoyed” his time in St. John’s, and says the league has a bright future. But it needs some work.
“If the infrastructure was put in place, it could really be something,” he said. “The league actually needs to follow St. John’s lead.
“The expertise of the front office spoke volumes over every other team. How they engaged the team with the community, how they marketed and promoted the team, got the players out in the public … the rest of the league needs to sit down and look at what St. John’s did.
“Clearly St. John’s was the best market.”
A replacement for Dunlap is expected to be announced shortly, and is expected to be Doug Plumb, who was the top assistant to Dunlap last season.
The 29-year-old Plumb was hired by the Edge at the same time as Dunlap, but the two had not worked together previously. The Port Moody, B.C., native, an all-canadian guard with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds who also played professionally in Hungary and Romania, came from the NBL Canada’s London Lightning.
In London, Plumb had been the lead assistant coach to Kyle Julius in 2016-17 as the Lightning went on to win what turned out to be the first of back-to-back championships.
“It was entirely my decision … a family decision. I felt welcomed to come back, and I would have loved to come back. It was not a question of turning down (the Edge) and walking away.” Jeff Dunlap