Marist’s MAAC title game appearance a shock to most, but a validation of John Dunne’s belief and confidence

Marist's growth at most opportune time has coincided with historic March run that has validated John Dunne’s belief in his Red Foxes. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Even in the face of twin five-game losing streaks at separate points this season, John Dunne was optimistic about his Marist team and its upside.

Always patient and usually stoic or grounded when assessing his rosters, Dunne's praise was somewhat surprising to see, especially for a unit in which more than 60 percent of its players are either first or second-year players. But for those who know the veteran coach well, or have been around him long enough to observe, the outward confidence was a harbinger of positive times to come.

“As coaches, you’re always going to work hard for your team, especially when teams are going through losing streaks,” Dunne said Friday after Marist secured an historic Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game appearance after shocking reigning March darling Saint Peter’s to earn a date with destiny against Iona. “And then you preach things to them. But at the end of the day, it’s up to them to buy in or not buy in, to keep great spirit or not keep great spirit, to come to work every day to try to get better even though you lost three in a row.”

“We kept saying we have enough in this room to win in the tournament, but they have to believe you. You can keep saying it, but they showed great character this year, and we did get better every day even though the losses weren’t showing it. These guys deserve to be in this game. All the credit goes to these guys and their spirit, so I’m super proud of them.”

Marist began MAAC play with four straight losses, then dropped five more games after winning three in a row. The Red Foxes’ fourth league win was offset by three more defeats before winning back-to-back games, then being thoroughly outplayed in double-digit losses to Iona and Quinnipiac to conclude the regular season. But amid the short ends of the proverbial stick lied tangible growth that was harder to forecast in December than it is today.

“Listen, every coach will say their team is resilient, their team’s got good character, yada yada yada,” Dunne said. “But I’m telling you right now, from the bottom of my heart, I believe it and I feel it with this group. We had some losing streaks and there were moments where, yeah, I was hard on them, and there were moments where you try to pick them up because you’re trying to grow every day.”

“The one thing I kept reminding them all year long was, ‘I don’t know what you feel about me, but I really love coaching you guys.’ I said that to them a few times, and I mean it. If we got knocked out in the first round, my feelings wouldn’t have changed with this group.”

Dunne has always cited the need to get experience as one of the best ways to cure growing pains with a young roster. Once that fell into place, it then became a matter of trusting his young charges and projecting his own confidence onto the players to bring Marist to the precipice of its journey through the MAAC tournament. What was largely unforeseen and likely viewed as impossible has now become a reality, with a clear validation in a great teacher’s belief in his students.

“I did believe that we had enough,” Dunne reaffirmed. “I knew we had guys that could make shots, but you’ve gotta start making them. I know we have guys that could handle the ball and make good plays and decisions, but you gotta start doing it. I knew we had enough toughness to get some defensive stops, but again, you gotta go out there and do it. We’ve grown a lot and we’re doing it at the right time, so yeah, I did believe it.”