An ex-NBA coach comes into a powerhouse program that has been built over the last few years, and he will look to continue that tradition with a brand new roster after a crazy offseason. The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) men’s basketball team kicks off their new era with a bang.
The last six years, the Mavericks were led by head coach Mike DeGeorge who brought the program to new heights. After five straight NCAA tournament berths, DeGeorge left the Mavs to be the head coach at DI California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).
The only two assistant coaches Mesa had followed DeGeorge to Cal Poly, along with a handful of players. Mac Riniker, Isaac Jessup, Owen Koonce and Ethan Menzies all joined DeGeorge with their final season of eligibility. Meanwhile, the RMAC player of the year, Trevor Baskin took his talents to the University of Colorado.
In order to reload the program, CMU made the most notable hiring in DII. The Mavericks hired Mike Dunlap, who has the best coaching resume in the country.
Dunlap, age 67, rose in the coaching ranks in the early 2000’s, winning two DII national championships with RMAC rival MSU-Denver. Between a DI head coaching job, and several assistant coaching jobs at high major DI schools, Dunlap also spent seven years in the NBA.
In his time in the NBA, Dunlap was the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2012-13, who were owned by Michael Jordan at that time. In his most recent stop, Dunlap was an assistant with the Milwaukke Bucks from 2020-2023, winning an NBA championship in 2021.
After coaching the last 43 years, Dunlap retired before last season. While traveling with his wife internationally, Dunlap began entertaining the idea to be the next head coach at Mesa, joining athletic director Joan McDermott, who was his athletic director at MSU-Denver.
“Molly, my wife of 37 years, an absolute warrior, said, ‘what the heck’. To come out of retirement, it had to be special. I think the school, and the people here are like Iowa. I went to grad school at [the University of Iowa]. I worked at the University of Iowa as a basketball coach. It had a very special midwestern flavor, and this place has that, community is special,” Dunlap said.
The biggest challenge for Dunlap is that he had to essentially build the roster from scratch. However, that has been his favorite part and one of the main reasons he came out of retirement, to become a true teacher of the game. Additionally, despite his age, Dunlap understands how to relate to players today.
“One thing I’ve learned is to be more open minded. With the modern athlete, the care factor has to be there even when it’s not necessary. That means being proactive in hearing somebody, and if you’re going to ask the question, follow through on it. Before, I was more stoic and gritty […] I do think that maybe I lost some player relationships that I shouldn’t have lost, so I think I’ll probably gain more relationships in the way I am now,” Dunlap said.
To build up his new roster, Dunlap used the same approach as his previous tenure at MS-Denver: his connections in Australia.
Dunlap was a head coach for three years in the premier professional league of Australia, and has also worked as a consultant for the Australian Basketball National Program. From Australia, he recruited eight players, five of them being freshman while the three others are sophomores.
Because of the transfer portal, and NIL (name, image and likeness) pressure to win at the DI level is at an all time high, leaving freshman and junior college players behind. Dunlap states that because of that reason, they were able to recruit a very talented group of underclassmen.
In Australia, the premier league is the National Basketball League (NBL). Unlike the NBA, the NBL has developmental junior programs within the country, which nearly all the Mesa’s Australians competed in.
One of the names Maverick fans will quickly learn is Yaak Yaak. From the NBA Global Academy, Yaak stands at 6 ‘11’’ with a 7’ 3 “ wingspan. In his freshman season, he played sparingly at DI New Mexico State University, and now finds himself in a unique leadership position. As one of the sophomores from Australia, Yaak was named as a captain.
“It goes so fast, your freshman year. I let them enjoy every moment, because it goes like that, but also just helping them each step of the way. Them [mostly] being Australian, it’s easy to relate to them, easy to talk to them, easy to get on them if they’re messing around” Yaak said.
While the Maverick lost 11 of the top 12 scorers from last season, the one returner will be huge. Redshirt senior Christopher Speller entered the transfer portal, but ultimately stayed at Mesa. In 2020, Speller was the RMAC freshman of the year, and has been a huge part of the team’s success over the last few years. As the only senior on the team, Speller has also been thrust into a leadership role and has been named a captain.
“It’s definitely a huge change for me. Just taking things that I’ve learned from the previous guys, leading by example or with my voice and trying to keep the guys at a poise,” Speller said.
Another returner to keep an eye on his redshirt junior Ty Allred. Allred dealt with injury, and was buried on a stacked Mesa team last year, but oozes potential. At 6’9’’, he is listed as a guard, and has flashed shooting ability before.
For the team, they begin the season with two road trips within Colorado before their first home game on Nov. 22. With a legendary coach, and elite international players along with Speller, and Allred. should be another exciting year of Maverick basketball.