John Dunne enters his 12th season at the helm of the Saint Peter’s University Men’s Basketball team. He is coming off his most successful season at Saint Peters since the MAAC championship in the 2010-2011 season, where his team earned an NCAA Tournament bid.

This past season was an exciting one with 23 wins (second highest in school history) and culminating with the program’s first ever national post season tournament championship in the CollegeInsider.com Post Season Tournament. The CIT proved to be challenging with three very difficult road victories. The Peacocks came from behind in all three road wins, including the championship game at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

The Saint Peters Men’s Basketball team also delivered the most wins in school history for a MAAC season with 14. They finished 14-6 in league play and second place overall.

The Peacocks had a very impressive 18-6 record after Jan. 1^st, while winning 11 of their last 12 games.  

The exciting year also brought about two All-MAAC selections in Quadir Welton (First Team) and Trevis Wyche (Second Team). The team was also rewarded with the program’s first ever MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, Chazz Patterson. In addition, Welton was named as the CIT Most Valuable Player.

Over the course of the last three seasons, the Peacocks have had four wins in the MAAC Tournament including two semi-final appearances. They have had double digit wins in the MAAC in each of the last two years.

Dunne arrived at Saint Peters in May of 2006 and turned around the program in his first five years on campus, increasing the team’s overall win total in each of those years. The program rose from five wins in year one to the program’s first 20-win season since 1991 in year five including the 2011 MAAC Championship. Dunne also led the Peacocks to 11 MAAC wins in back-to-back years during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, a first for the program since 1989.

In Dunne’s time at Saint Peters, they have been one of the best defensive teams in the MAAC every year. The 2009-10 season saw the Peacocks limit their opponents to 37.7% shooting from the field. They would follow that up in 2010-11 limiting opponents to 37.6% shooting. Those numbers would be good for second in the NCAA both seasons. This past season the team finished 18^th nationally in defensive efficiency. They were one of only eleven teams since 2001-02 to finish in the top 75 nationally in all four factors of defensive efficiency. 

In his tenure at Saint Peters, Dunne has coached nine 1,000 point scorers, 13 All-MAAC selections, three All-Rookie selections, three All-MAAC Tournament selections including a MAAC Tournament MVP, four All-MAAC Academic honorees and a MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.

He has notable wins over Alabama, Seton Hall and an impressive 3–3 record versus Big Ten member, Rutgers.

Off the court, Dunne’s commitment to his student-athletes’ academics are unsurpassed. Dunne has graduated 100 percent of his recruits that have completed their eligibility at Saint Peter’s.

Through various community service projects, Dunne has taught his players the importance and value of charity work.  Peacock players and coaches have donated their time to local soup kitchens in Elizabeth, NJ as well as elementary schools in Jersey City, NJ. “Our philosophy is to develop our student-athletes not only as basketball players, but as active leaders in the community,” said Dunne. “We are committed to developing the character of each individual in our program to prepare them for life after basketball.”

Dunne’s accomplishments, both on and off the floor at Saint Peter’s have not gone unnoticed as he was named a finalist for the 2011 Skip Prosser Award. The Skip Prosser Award was established in 2008 to honor those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well.

Dunne was an assistant coach at Seton Hall University from 2001-06 before arriving in Jersey City. He helped guide the Pirates to two NCAA Tournaments and one NIT appearance.

Dunne spent two seasons at Siena College before arriving at Seton Hall. While there, the Saints won the MAAC Regular Season title in both seasons including posting an overall record of 44–20. The first season at Siena included an NIT bid where they advanced to the second round.

Prior to Siena College, Dunne spent one season as an assistant at Manhattan College and two seasons on the sidelines at Division II, Adelphi University. At Adelphi, Dunne worked on the staff for Steve Clifford (current Charlotte Hornets Head Coach). In Dunne’s two seasons there, he helped Adelphi post a 43-17 record.

Dunne got his start in coaching at Division III, Wilkes University during the 1992-93 season. After two seasons at Wilkes, Dunne spent one year at Western Michigan University. He returned to Wilkes for the 1995-96 season which culminated with a trip to the Elite Eight and a 28-2 overall record.

Dunne was a four-year letter winner for the Ithaca College Men’s Basketball team. He left the program as the Bombers all-time leader in steals and third all-time in assists. He currently sits fourth and fifth respectively. He also ranks on the single season steal list sitting in second place after recording 60 steals as a senior.

A Queens, NY native, Dunne played his high school basketball for legendary head coach Jack Curran at Archbishop Molloy High School. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Ithaca College in 1992 and a Master’s degree in Sports Management at East Stroudsburg University in 1996.