OLD TAPPAN - Coaching varsity sports in two consecutive sports seasons is difficult and time consuming. Winning state titles in each sport in the same year is nearly impossible. Yet NV/Old Tappan football and girls basketball head coach Brian Dunn has accomplished this in two of the last three years.

“He brings energy to practices,” said Dunn’s longtime basketball assistant, Bob Silvestri. “When he comes from football practice to basketball practice (in late November/early December) he is laser focused. He sees everything. They are all dialed in. I don’t know how you do that. He is a phenomenal game coach. He was born to coach.”

Dunn began his coaching career in the fall of 1992 as freshman football coach at NV/Old Tappan, while he was teaching at Passaic Valley. From there he moved on to Pascack Hills where he was an assistant coach in football and girls basketball, as well as head coach of the freshman baseball team. In the classroom he taught history at both Pascack Hills and Pascack Valley. Across the hall at Valley was legendary girls basketball coach Jeff Jasper, who earned career victory No. 1,000 this past season.

“I told Jeff I didn’t know what I was doing,” Dunn said with a laugh. “He was always very helpful - a mentor to me.”

In 1995 Dunn began teaching at NV/Old Tappan.

“A lot of my old teachers in the district (Dunn graduated from NV/Demarest) helped me get the job,” he said.

Dunn only wanted to coach two sports at NVOT - football and baseball - but a year later then Athletics Director Mario Pelino asked him to also coach freshman girls basketball.

“When you want tenure, you do what you’re told,” Dunn said.

At the time, Silvestri was coaching the junior varsity team and he recalled Dunn’s first season.

“He had 18 kids and they only lost one game - an early morning game on a Saturday,” Silvestri said.
The reason there were so many players on the team is because Dunn has not cut a player since his first year as freshman baseball coach, under longtime head coach Tim Byron.

“We had 20 kids left when we scrimmaged Westwood,” Dunn said. “This kid was on the cutting board - he was OK but not quite as good as the others. It was a 40-degree drizzly day and I sent him up with bases loaded. He cracks a 350-foot grand slam and he ‘Cadillacs’ around the bases. Byron asked me why I put him in and I said I just wanted to give him a chance. The next day I had to cut him anyway. The next year we kept 27 kids.

“It made me a better coach. I had to try to get them all in. We’ll find a uniform for any kid who wants to play.”

It’s a philosophy he continues to this day in every sport he coaches. Dunn married Allyson Loesch a couple of months before he was hired at NV/Old Tappan. They’re going on 23 years of marriage.

“She’s had it tough,” he said. “She grew up in Manhattan and when we met she had a teaching job in New York and was paying only $600 rent. After we married we moved to an apartment in River Edge. She was away from her friends and didn’t have a driver’s license. She got a job teaching in Hackensack and with my coaching schedule she would be alone in the apartment. She never complained - she never does.”

When their son Thomas was born Allyson stayed home with him. Two years later Katie joined the family.

“I was still coaching and summer schedules took up a lot of time,” Dunn said. “And then Thomas was diagnosed. Allyson knew [beforehand].”
Thomas had autism and “it flipped our life,” Dunn said. “I had just gotten the football head coaching job and we were in the girls basketball county finals. I continued coaching and Allyson never asked me to quit.”

Later they moved to a house in Northvale a mile and a half from NVOT, which made it a little easier on the family.

“It was rough on her,” said Dunn. “She was taking care of Thomas and not working. I took care of him when I could to give her a break. I missed a lot of Katie’s kid stuff. She bore the brunt and never told me to quit. She never waivered - she knew I loved it.  Now she’s able to enjoy my coaching and she comes to the games.”

NV/Old Tappan girls basketball head coach Marty Dougherty resigned because of his growing family in 1997, creating an opening. Silvestri couldn’t take the reins because he worked in NYC so Dunn became head coach for the 1997-98 season. He only had one stipulation.

“He said he would do it if I would be his assistant,” Silvestri said. “I agreed to be there as long as he was head coach. We made a pact. I never thought it would last 20-plus years.”

“Everything we have done is side-by-side,” said Dunn. “He has a gentler touch. He makes sure what we are teaching seeps into them. But it goes well beyond basketball. We’ve spent time off the court, going to dinner, playing golf and going to Giants and Yankees games.”

After five years as an assistant coach Dunn took over as head coach of football in 2000. He has amassed 130 wins and those two state titles. One person who has coached with Dunn in both sports is Joe Clause. He is the defensive coordinator for the football team and he coaches the freshman girls basketball team.

“When I first got the job as the girls freshman coach I wondered if I should coach them differently than I coach boys,” Clause said. “Then I watched Brian coaching the girls and I saw that he does nothing different. It’s the same demeanor, the same intensity. He coaches them as athletes. He works them hard, yells when he has to and pats them on the back when they deserve it. If you coach them differently you don’t get the results you want.”

This year’s football state title victory was a 31-28 thriller over Mount Olive in the North 1, Group 4 championship game. A fumble recovery on a botched center snap by senior lineman Jack Dippolito with less than a minute to go saved the day in a game where two fourth quarter touchdowns by the Golden Knights was the difference.

Three months later Dunn earned girls basketball career win No. 405 with a 46-45 win over Ewing in the Group 3 state final. Senior leaders Alexandra George and Sophie Downey teamed up to get the winning points, again with less than a minute to go. Downey fed George inside for a layup to tie the game.

“We have practiced that high/low so many times,” said Downey. “I saw her hands were up and she was two inches taller than the girl guarding her.”

“I was a little anxious because I had just missed on the same play right before,” said George. “I knew Sophie was at the high post and she had a good (open) shot. I was almost hoping she wouldn’t pass it to me.”

But Downey lofted the ball over the defender, George caught the ball and laid it up and in, drawing a foul in the process.

“There was so much running through my mind (as she went up for the layup),” George said. “I thought, ‘I can’t miss this.’  I didn’t want to travel. This could be our last chance to win and I didn’t want to go into overtime the way Ewing was playing.”

Downey was the first one to George after she hit the layup.

“I was so excited,” Downey said. “Alex just had a blank stare, knowing she had to shoot a foul shot.”
More than likely George was thinking that free throws have been a challenge throughout her high school career.  

“I was not focused on the free throw,” she said. “I was focused on getting back on defense. I just let my body take over and I relied on muscle memory. I knew I had to shoot it up and hurry back on defense.”

She made the free throw but didn’t realize it until she got back on defense and looked at the scoreboard.

“It couldn’t have been a better time for her to make a foul shot,” Downey said with a laugh.

Then the team turned to focusing on defense, much like it did after the Golden Knights had taken a lead late in the 35-32 North 1, Group 3 state sectional final win over Pascack Valley. There were still 44 seconds left as Ewing moved the ball around the perimeter and finally shot and missed a three-pointer. The ball went out of bounds off Old Tappan and Ewing got the ball with 7 seconds left.

“The plan was to switch on every screen,” said Downey. “I ended up on [Kiyla Paterson]. She was a lot quicker than me.”

Paterson drove inside and George stuck out her hand and knocked the ball away.

“We had said, ‘no drives to the middle’ so I reached in and tapped the ball out,” George said. “It was time to take a chance. It was better to draw a foul away from the basket than on the shot.”

No foul was called, however, and Knights senior Erin Harnisch dove for the ball. So did George and so did Downey.

“We were not letting the ball get into their (Ewing’s) hands,” George said.

Old Tappan got possession with 0.2 seconds left and Old Tappan had another state title.

“When we beat Pascack Valley we thought we had beaten the best team in the tournament,” Downey said. “[But] Ewing was a lot more aggressive and scrappy than Pascack Valley. Valley had a lot of guards and Ewing had a big post player so I think we matched up better with Ewing. In the beginning we pulled away but they battled back.”

Part of the team’s success has come from a youth program started by Dunn about 20 years ago. He and his staff have also worked with younger players and it has been mutually beneficial to the players and the program.

“He took a group of sixth, seventh and eighth graders to a summer camp at the University of North Carolina,” said assistant coach Christine Massaro, who was among the players at the camp. “Good preparation is his style. Bob (Silvestri) coached us using what Brian wanted us to learn. It was an advantage, a good start for the high school years.”

“We started our own club basketball like AAU about 11 years ago,” said Dunn. “We practice two times a week in the spring and play four games on weekends. We wanted to keep the soccer and lacrosse kids playing basketball. There was no charge and we told them to come when they could. Massaro is great with it - she gets no compensation and it’s a big time commitment. You give up weekends, but it’s fun and it has paid dividends.”

Massaro played four years of varsity for Dunn in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s and began coaching with him in 2005.

“I was surprised at the amount of time spent before and after practice,” she said. “[You are] watching film and scouting. You can’t just show up to play. There are no shortcuts. You keep the same routine every day. You study film with the coaches and talk about it. Then he (Dunn) goes over film at lunch with the players. As a player you don’t realize what coaching entails.”

A few years ago Silvestri handed off the junior varsity to Massaro, telling her she earned it and that Dunn knew she was committed.

“He was my rec coach and my travel coach,” Massaro said of Silvestri. “He always looked out for me. I’m a disciple of Brian Dunn’s defense so we play man-to-man team defense. We focus on being aware of where the ball is. It’s five girls on one ball. When I played it worked and now that I’m coaching it still works. Dunn is a wizard for offense. He creates plays. He knows how to get the best kids in the right spots. With Brian you are expected to play at a certain intensity. If you don’t he lets you know.”

“Whether it’s football or basketball you have to simplify it for kids,” said Dunn. “You have to allow them to use the skills they have, run the best offense with the kids you have and teach them to do well. The younger the team, the fewer the number of plays you have. It’s building and layering and adding to the repertoire. It’s like starting off with basic math and leading to calculus.”

Massaro talked about the 2015-16 team, which won the first girls basketball state title for Dunn.

“We won the Joe Poli Tournament for the first time,” she said. “We improve as the year goes on and winning the Poli was a great start. They wanted the league and to get back to Toms River and this time win the game.”

A year earlier they had lost to Middletown South, 50-42. In March of 2016 Old Tappan jumped out to a big lead and hung on for a 47-36 revenge victory over Middletown South. Massaro thinks the team was aided by playing together in Dunn’s youth program.  

“They played together for seven years (including as sixth, seventh and eighth graders),” she said. “It paid off. It’s not popular and not glamorous to spend your summer doing it but it works. They spent two nights a week in a skills clinic for younger kids and team concepts for older kids.”

The 2017-18 title team not only played together (and against each other) when they were younger but this season’s senior class were sophomores on that 2015-16 championship team.  

“They were all with me then [on the JV],” Massaro said. “They all practiced with the varsity, went to the games and took the bus rides. They saw what it takes to do it.”

George and Downey recalled the 2015-16 season, which they say helped them prepare for the 2017-18 title run.

“We wanted revenge for losing to them the year before,” said Downey. “It really motivated us to win. We played really hard. Alex and I drew from that game. She and I knew what to expect in a Group 3 championship game.”

“I remember I didn’t have a very good game,” added George. “They played a triangle and two and Emily [Crevani] and I were covered. Sophie [Downey] came off the bench and lit it up. They were not ready for her. We knew what she was capable of and she scored six points in the first half. I thought our seniors were the best basketball players ever. They told us it was an honor to play in the final but it was hard to do so don’t expect to get back here again. When we started off 3-3 [this season] I didn’t think we were going anywhere but we had talent and potential and we got there. It’s really an honor and we’re proud to do it with two different teams. It’s a credit to the program, the coaches and the players.”

Dunn is known for teaching life lessons to the players.

“My kids, Lisa and Jenna, were better because of Brian Dunn,” Silvestri said. “They learned life lessons. They learned you have to put effort into things, how important it is to prepare and be accountable to your team. You’re not an island out there. You have to get good grades, be a good student, be healthy.

“During the holiday season he tells them it’s a time to be grateful and thankful for what you have. He tells them to call an aunt, an uncle, a sick relative and tell them you are thinking about them. Help your mother do the dishes or do some other thing you don’t normally do. He’s a teacher that loves coaching. He’s extremely caring. Before practice he loves them all to death and after practice he loves them all to death.”

Dunn views it as just common sense advice.

“I tell them to make somebody else look good,” Dunn said. “Learn how to treat people, think of others, be accountable. Reach out and do something for someone. Do it because you want to, not because you’re supposed to do it.”

Clause also knows a kinder, gentler Brian Dunn - the person no one sees.

“People see the yelling, but it’s the little stuff he does,” Clause said. “He cares for the kids. He’s probably been coaching most of them since they were in fourth grade, he knows the parents and he reaches out to them. When he sees them in the hallways he’s asking them - ‘how are you doing?; you need help with anything?; how is your day going?’ - things like that. Once a game or practice is over he cares about them as people.

“After their playing days are over the kids realize why he did all that for them.”

But Clause admits that Dunn does not permit the kids to get complacent and he isn’t afraid to “be harsh” with the kids who think they are above it all.

“He’ll say, ‘you haven’t done anything yet,’ when they get complacent,” Clause said. “He wants the kids to perform their best when everyone is watching. They’re the ones who make plays and get it done. He wants the kids to have that moment.”

Dunn’s own children have had “that moment” during the time they have played for their father.
Thomas Dunn was a member of the state champion football team in 2015, his senior year. He got on the field where the New York Giants and Jets play for a couple of plays near the end of the game.

“I wish every coach could have that experience of having a son on the team,” said Dunn. “He finally broke through with a great group of kids who were great to my son. Him getting on the field at MetLife was not on our radar.”

Dunn also coached his daughter in state tournament games. Katie Dunn was a three-point specialist for this season’s girls state champions. She hit a key three in the middle of a 10-1 run in the state sectional title game against Pascack Valley.

“Katie was a sophomore on the 2015-16 state championship team,” Dunn said. “She was young and she enjoyed a great ride. She’s been on four very good teams. We’re a good team so it’s not easy to get playing time. She’s worked hard. It’s never been hard for me but it’s been hard for her. You try to treat them all like your daughter. I bark at every kid, her included.”  

Dunn picked up milestone win No. 400 with a 61-40 win over Paramus Catholic Feb. 20. None of those wins were as a result of him picking teams that are considered easy. In addition to playing the regular league schedule Dunn seeks out good teams to play independent games.

“He doesn’t pick up easy independent games,” Massaro said. “He could have scheduled easy games over the years but didn’t. His 400 wins are more special because none of them were cupcake wins.”
“We’re not usually great in December,” Dunn said, “so we play the hardest games to challenge ourselves. I’m not concerned with our December record so I find great teams to play and find out where we have to get better.”

In Massaro’s senior year the Golden Knights accepted the challenge from a great team from Staten Island. Silvestri went to scout them and when he presented his report Dunn saw that the entire team was made up of great players. A few of them went on to play at Division 1 colleges.

“He didn’t do his due diligence on that team,” Silvestri said. “Their smallest kid was 5’11. We scored the first basket to go up 2-0 and they scored the next 44 points. It was a great way to start off the season.”

“I was new and a little cocky, so I said, sure we’ll play you,” Dunn said, laughing. “Bob’s scouting report showed they were all great players. He said, ‘nothing we have is going to work.’ We scored first and it was our last basket for about an hour.”

Nevertheless, Dunn’s program survived that loss and is thriving. After the Pascack Valley win in the state tournament this season George and junior Jackie Kelly, who hit a pair of key throws late in the 35-32 victory, credited Dunn and staff for the team’s success.

“It’s the coaching staff - Dunn, Silvestri and Massaro - they’re all fabulous,” said George. “They work very well together. They do a great job to inspire us on the floor. I was having a rough start in the game and Dunn gave me a pep talk. He yells but he also knows when to boost you up. It’s not us. I could play for any school and I wouldn’t be as good as I am today - how they coached and  developed me as a player.”

“He’s the best coach we could ever ask for,” Kelly added. “He puts the hardest work into us and we give it in return. And this is what we get. His good coaching and our hard work gets us this. We’re so happy for that.”

The players and Brian Dunn now have four state titles in three years.

“His work ethic is second to none,” said Clause. “I marvel at him. For 20 years he’s been a successful head coach in back-to-back seasons and he is never one to toot his own horn.”

“You can’t out-work Brian Dunn,” added Silvestri. “For him it’s not work - it’s a passion.”

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