Loyola Marymount Focuses on Dunlap

For the second time in three years, Loyola Marymount is looking to Division II Metro State in Denver for its next men’s coach.

Nearly a month after the university announced the resignation of Charles Bradley, former Loyola Marymount player and current Metro State Coach Mike Dunlap has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Bradley, according to sources close to the situation.

Dunlap replaced Bradley at Metro State after Bradley took over the Lions before the 1997 season. In his three years at Loyola Marymount, Bradley was 20-62 and saw the program hit rock bottom this past season, finishing 2-26 overall, 0-14 in the West Coast Conference and failing to defeat a Division I team.

Dunlap, who tops a list of finalists that includes former Pepperdine assistant and current Eastern Washington Coach Steve Aggers, is 83-15 in three seasons at Metro State. His team plays in the round of eight in the Division II tournament on March 22.

The search has been put on hold until all candidate’s seasons have ended, according to sources.

In an e-mail sent by Athletic Director Bill Husak to numerous alumni and people close to LMU, Husak wrote that he has been authorized by school President Rev. Robert B. Lawton to make his next coach the highest paid in the WCC.

Dunlap played at LMU in the 1978-79 and 79-80 seasons then served as an assistant for five years under Ed Goorjian where, according to sources, he developed a friendship with Husak’s boss, LMU vice president of student affairs Elena Bove.

He also served as an assistant at USC under George Raveling for three years in the late 1980s before coaching Division III Cal Lutheran for five seasons. Before Metro State, Dunlap spent three seasons coaching a professional team in Australia.