Brian Dunn hasn’t had a lot of days off since the summer. It’s a product of being a head coach of two programs at Old Tappan. He’s been the head football coach for more than two decades and the head girls basketball coach for 25 years. Because of it, there’s some overlap between the two sports, as he jumps straight from football into basketball. Recently, his two worlds collided during his football team’s recent run to its first-ever Group 3 championship. There was a two-week stretch leading up to the Group 3 final to the start of basketball practice that Dunn was balancing both. The days were long, with Dunn communicating with his assistant basketball coaches while working with the football team. He would go from one practice to another. It’s something Dunn is used to, and he enjoys and embraces the grind. Dunn is wired that way.

“I love it. I love coaching the kids,”

Dunn said. “We celebrated and had a great time with the football team, but then you get up and you gotta do something the next day. You’re not going to sit around and pat yourself on the back forever. So it’s back to work, and I’m used to it. I love getting back into the gym. I love the transition. You’re back at work doing something. “Most years, you don’t win that game at the end of the year, so you’re beating yourself up about what you gotta do better, so it’s a good transition.”
Football: Group 3 Final - Old Tappan vs. Delsea, December 2, 2022
Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn hugs Alex Orecchio (12) after
the Golden Knights won the NJSIAA Group 3 Championship football game

And it hasn’t taken long for Dunn to transition his winning ways on the football field to the basketball court. Old Tappan is off to an 8-0 start following its 62-45 win over Tenafly on Tuesday, giving the Golden Knights an edge over their Big North Conference division rival in the standings. Senior Melissa Brennan scored a game-high 25 points and knocked down eight 3-pointers. Senior Mackenzie Ward added 13 points, and junior Layla Giordano chipped in with eight points and had a dominant showing on the glass with 16 rebounds. Maya Giordano had a solid game by shutting down the low post on defense, while having 5 points and 8 rebounds.

Dunn watches intently on the sideline, rarely sitting down as he constantly calls plays for his team to run. He was pleased with his team’s defensive effort in the third quarter, holding Tenafly to just five points, and prolific scorer Rylie Theuerkauf to 21 points for the contest. Dunn is in full basketball mode now. “We had two weeks in between the (Group 3 final), so it was fine. We just did our football stuff in the afternoon and had practice at night, and then I have (assistants) Christine Massaro and Joe Clause. Joe coaches football with me, too, and then Christine has been with me for basketball forever. Great assistant coaches and everybody is really good. It wasn’t a big deal.” Brennan said players took the onus on being prepared during practice when Dunn was coaching both teams. She said the team had to be ready to hit the ground running. Players did as much as they could to help alleviate any pressure Dunn might’ve been feeling balancing the workload for two sports. “We knew he was definitely going to be a little bit stressed coming out of football having all of those practices with that overlapping week,” Brennan said. “He would go to football for two hours and then come to us for two hours, so we knew we had to step it up and take it upon ourselves to get ourselves ready when he couldn’t always be there. “That way when he was ready to give us his full attention, he didn’t have much to work on with us.” Dunn was never completely away. He was available to his players to answer any questions they had during the two weeks.

“For two weeks, he was going back and forth,” Giordano said. “We would practice at night, and then he would come after practice. I don’t think he even ate dinner before practice. It was tough in the beginning because we had long practices, but he was still there 24/7 for us.”

Dunn said it’s a good problem to have coaching two sports. There certainly isn’t any boredom that comes from doing it. It keeps him on his toes, consistently finding ways to improve both teams during the fall and winter. He wouldn’t want to have it any other way. “It’s fun and exciting, Dunn said. “The state football playoffs that was really exciting and doubled up with basketball for a week and a half or so. It was a grind at that point, but we’re now fully into basketball, so everything is good. As long as the kids work hard, they are easy to coach. That job is easy.”

 

By Luis Torres | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Photo Scott Faytok | NJ Advance Media