Jerry Dunn 1953–

Basketball coach

At a Glance…

Sources

In his first four seasons as head coach of the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions basketball team, Jerry Dunn compiled an 82-67 win-loss record. He brought Penn State to the NCAA Tournament in his first season and he accumulated 50 wins faster than any other coach in Penn State history. Under Dunn, players had a 100-percent graduation rate. His success may have been the result of his love for the game, or his love of Penn State. After coaching the team for 18 seasons, Dunn stuck with Penn State rather than leaving to take a head coaching position with another school, claiming, “my heart is at Penn State….”

Dunn was born May 6, 1953 in Raleigh, North Carolina, five minutes before identical twin Terry, an assistant coach in Colorado. He learned the value of hard work at a young age, working 16-hour shifts picking tobacco. “I tried to instill in my children that nothing comes easy, except maybe every once in a while,” Jerry’s mother, Maelene, said in a 1999 interview. “You do have to put forth a lot of effort.”

The Dunn brothers started playing basketball at age 13, after the family moved to Washington, D.C. They became outstanding high school athletes in at Pemberton Township High in New Jersey where their stepfather, an Army man, was relocated there. Dick Stahl, their Pemberton coach, recalls making one of the Dunn twins wear a rubber band around his wrist to tell them apart in practice, and that the two used to switch jerseys before a game.

Jerry Dunn also excelled on the football team, and was recruited by military university West Point to play, but rejected the offer because, he said, he had been a “military brat” for so long. After a post-high-school year spent considering his options, Dunn joined his brother Terry at Casper Junior College in Wyoming. As members of the Casper basketball team, the two faced Wyoming’s frigid cold and winds to run every day at 6 a.m. “Jerry was a very good team player, citizen and student,” The Dunn’s Casper coach, Swede Erickson, recalled in Dunn’s Penn State bio. “He could get along with everyone and was pleasant to be around. If you weren’t a team player, you didn’t play for me. He got a good background in discipline on and off the court.”

After being diagnosed with tendinitis in both knees, Jerry Dunn ended his basketball career, but remained at Casper until 1974 to earn his associate’s degree in science. After four years working for the federal government back in Washington, D.C. to earn money for school, he enrolled at George Mason University, and majored in sociology. He later switched to a major in health and physical education with a minor in history and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1980. He got his start coaching at George Mason as a volunteer, and then was promoted to part-time and then full-time assistant. Dunn left George Mason in 1983 to come to Penn State as an assistant coach.

In September of 1995, when former Penn State head coach—and Dunn’s good friend—Bruce Parkhill, announced his resignation, citing burnout, Dunn was

At a Glance…

Born Jerry Michael Dunn on May 6, 1953 in Raleigh, NC; son of Maelene Dunn Leake; married Gwendolyn Phillips, Apr. 10, 1977; children; Nicole, Taylor, Morgan. Education: George Mason University, BS, education, 1980.

Career: George Mason University, assistant coach, men’s basketball, 1979-83; Penn State University, assistant coach, men’s basketball, 1983-96, head basketball coach, 1996-.

Member: National Association of Basketball Coaches; Black Coaches Association; Second Mile Charity Organizer, board of directors.

Awards: NABC Coach of the Year, District 3, 1996.

Addresses: Office— Penn State University, Head Basketball Coach, 113 Bryce Jordan, University Park, PA 16802,

awash with doubts. He had no idea whether Penn State would go outside the school to hire a new coach, if he’d be considered as a replacement, or if he’d even have a job with the team. Eight hours after Parkhill’s announcement, his questions were answered—Athletic Director Tim Curley offered Dunn the position. “There was no decision,” Dunn told the Sporting News. “The only decision was how quickly I was going to say yes.” According to the Sporting News, Dunn had fielded offers for at least six head-coaching positions over the years, but had remained with Penn State as assistant. “I didn’t realize it at the time,” Dunn told the Sporting News, “but I was making some pretty good decisions.”

In his five years as coach he had compiled an 82-67 win-loss record. However, Dunn still had his critics. At the end of the 2000 season, fans and the media, frustrated with the basketball team’s performance that year, lashed out. At the team’s final home game, one fan held up a sign that said, “Help Wanted: Coach.” After the season, two former players reported that Dunn’s practices exceeded the 20 hours per week allowed by the NCAA. Penn State investigated the matter and found no proof of the claim. Dunn also was troubled by transfers of his players to other school. In his first four seasons as coach, four bright players— Damien McKnight, Ryan Bailey, Greg Stevenson and Greg Grays—left Penn State.

Although at his 2000 end-of-season press conference, Dunn said, “I feel that I’ll be back next year,” it looked for a while like he might not be. Before recruiting for the 2001 season, Dunn agreed to meet with Tulane University officials regarding a recently vacated coaching position. Penn State Athletics Director Tim Curley told University Wire that he was made aware that Dunn was meeting with Tulane, saying that the athletic department had called and asked permission to speak with Dunn, which Curley granted. Team members claimed to know nothing about Dunn considering other positions. “The best thing for Penn State would be if Jerry Dunn succeeded here,” said Tim Beidel, the moderator for PennStateHoops.com and a Penn State alumnus from 1982. “One thing Penn State has had in all sports is stability. But he has to do what is best for him.”

Just a few days after his meeting with Tulane, Dunn decided what was best for him. Though he admitted he was flattered by Tulane’s interest, he withdrew his name from consideration for the position. “It ain’t easy,” Dunn told University Wire at a press conference. “And I never thought it was going to be easy because I’ve been here for 17 years. I’m not like a guy who came in here not knowing what to expect.”

Sources

Periodicals

Associated Press, July 18, 2000.

The Sporting News, October 23, 1995.

University Wire, July 14, 2000.

Other

Additional materials were obtained on-line at the Pennsylvania State University web site, http://www.psu.edu/sports/basketball/men/profiles/dunn.html.

—Brenna Sanchez