Basketball is a numbers game

The first day Bob Dunn walked onto the Dayton campus before his freshman year he stopped in at the men’s basketball office.

“I talked with the head coach but I didn’t know he was the head coach,” Dunn said of Brian Gregory, the former Flyers mentor.

Dunn was interested in helping out as a student assistant and was able to work about 20 hours a week for the program.

“I loved the atmosphere,” Dunn recalled.

The former Cleveland high school student was a student assistant at UD from 2006 to 2010 and received his bachelor’s in accounting. He was a graduate assistant for the Flyers in 2010-11 and received his MBA. While he was on staff, the Flyers won 22 and 20 games in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively, and reached the NIT in both seasons.

Dunn has just finished his fourth season as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball program at Division I George Mason, which like Dayton is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

“I am our offensive coordinator. I do watch a lot of film,” said Dunn, who is also in international recruiting. “The thing I enjoy the most is spending time on the court with the players. We have ladies who work hard and I feel that it’s my duty to help them out; that is what I enjoy the most,” he said.

So how does an accounting major end up as a basketball coach?

“My athletic ability topped out in fifth grade. I knew being a college athlete wasn’t my go-to,” Dunn said. “I was good in math with numbers, and it still helps me now with statistics.”

George Mason was 16-14 this past season under head coach Nyla Milleson and completed the best two-year stretch in program history.

“We are really excited; coach just finished her sixth year. It has taken awhile but we have done it the right way with the right players,” Dunn said. “They have bought into the daily grind.”

So has Dunn.