For Dunne, Saint Peter's homecoming is just another game

John Dunne makes return to Jersey City Sunday for first time when Marist visits Saint Peter's, where he spent past twelve seasons as head coach. (Photo by Vincent Simone/NYC Buckets)

Saint Peter's University will have an all-too-familiar feel Sunday afternoon, when the Peacocks welcome not only Marist onto its home court at the Yanitelli Center, but also the Red Foxes' first-year head coach, who happens to know the venue more intimately than anyone in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

For twelve years, John Dunne patrolled the sideline in Jersey City, quietly orchestrating nothing short of magic while building the Saint Peter's program from the ground up, winning a MAAC championship in 2011 and a CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament championship in 2017 amid one of the toughest sets of circumstances any Division I head coach could possibly be faced with. Lauded by fans, media, and experts for his ability to make something out of what was widely perceived to be nothing, Dunne left this past April, describing Marist as an opportunity he could ultimately not pass up, and will now bring his new program into its first road game of the conference season, one that promises to be an emotional game even if he is adamant about downplaying the subplots.

"To be honest, I'll just take a business approach," Dunne said of Sunday's contest, when he, and assistants Serge Clement and Dalip Bhatia -- both of whom followed him from Saint Peter's to Marist -- will be introduced for the first time as visiting coaches by public address announcer Charles O'Brien. "In the beginning, it's very difficult, there's no question. But you have to move past it professionally if you're going to have success. What's going to be difficult is probably just year one, the first one or two times -- in particular, the first time, it's going to be in their gym -- that'll be a difficult night for me, for sure."

"It'll be emotional, but you have to be a professional, and I'm leading Marist right now. We're trying to beat everybody in the MAAC, and all of our opponents. It'll be a little bit emotional, but I think once the first one is over, I just think after that, it'll just be another opponent."

At 6-9 on the season, Marist has gone through its peaks and valleys, winning the Belfast Classic in the non-conference season before beginning MAAC play with two close losses to Canisius and Siena sandwiching a win over Manhattan. Brian Parker, as expected, has led the way in his senior season, averaging nearly 15 points per game, with Ryan Funk, Isaiah Lamb and David Knudsen serving as his primary sources of support. Against a Saint Peter's team featuring several Dunne holdovers but playing a different style of basketball under Shaheen Holloway, the consistency with which the Red Foxes have been largely performing must remain present, and Dunne is aware of that.

"I think, at times, they've played very good basketball, and at other times, they've struggled to score a little bit," he said when analyzing Saint Peter's. "They're not unlike a lot of other MAAC teams right now that are searching for consistency."

Regardless of what happens in the ensuing 40 minutes Sunday, one thing that will remain consistent is the objective for both teams, one which becomes more intricate when the longtime host takes it all in from the opposite bench.

"It's a businesslike approach as far as winning and losing," Dunne cautioned. "Obviously, I'd be lying to not say some of those upperclassmen are guys I miss a lot. I have a lot of great memories of Saint Peter's. The people there treated me extremely well, but at the end of the day, I'll be there on Sunday for one thing only, and that's to try to get a road win."