Mike Dunlap

Michael Gregory "Mike" Dunlap (born May 27, 1957) is an American basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of Loyola Marymount University.

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Dunlap is the former head coach of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. He replaced Paul Silas after the Bobcats' 2011-2012 season, in which the team had the worst winning percentage in NBA history. He previously served as the interim head coach and assistant coach at St. John's University, and head coach at Metro State. He also served as the assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets from 2006 to 2008.

While at Metro State, Dunlap led his team to NCAA Division 2 championships in 2000 and 2002. He posted an overall record of 248–50, leading the Roadrunners to nine NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his nine seasons as head coach (1997–2006).

He also spent five years as head basketball coach at California Lutheran University.

Dunlap also served three seasons in Australia (1994-1996) as head coach of the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League. Dunlap signed to coach Adelaide for 5 years at approximately AU$200,000 per year, making him the NBL's first million dollar coach. Dunlap was successful in taking the team to the NBL Grand Final in 1994 against the North Melbourne Giants and the semi-finals in 1995 and 1996. Over his three season in Adelaide Dunlap compiled a 59-36 record before returning to the USA just weeks before the 1997 season following the sudden death of his father. Dunlap is credited as the coach who kick-started the NBL career of the 36ers all-time leading home grown player Brett Maher.

While Dunlap's time with the Adelaide 36ers was somewhat successful, taking them back to being an NBL force with Grand and Semi-final appearances, his time in Adelaide wasn't without controversy. As a former NCAA coach, Dunlap tended to favor the younger players in the team, including taking the young players on a two-month pre-season camp to Cal Lutheran prior to his first year as team coach. This came at the expense of the teams veterans with Dunlap ultimately successful in removing long time players and fan favorites such as Mike McKay, Scott Ninnis, Phil Smyth and Robert Rose from the club. Prior to the 1997 NBL season, although it wasn't public knowledge at the time, Dunlap reportedly wanted to get rid of the clubs greatest player (to that point) Mark Davis who had been a member of the team, and its most dominant player, since 1985 (Dunlap had already taken the captaincy from Davis in 1996 and given it to Brett Maher). The club decided that they would rather keep the still well performing Davis than Dunlap and just prior to his return to the US for his fathers funeral, it was mutually agreed that Dunlap's time in Adelaide was over.

In the 2011–12 NBA season the Charlotte Bobcats record was an NBA worst ever 7–59. In the early part of the 2012–13 season, Dunlap led the Bobcats to a 7–5 record, with Charlotte matching its win total from the previous season. However, at that point, the Bobcats went on an 18-game losing streak from which they never recovered. They ultimately finished 21-61, the second-worst record in the NBA. On April 23, 2013, the Bobcats announced that Dunlap had been fired. Several team sources told The Charlotte Observer that Dunlap had been ousted in part because his often heavy-handed coaching style rubbed the players the wrong way. Before a February game, Dunlap got into a verbal altercation with Ben Gordon that drew national attention. He was also known to bench players for several games as punishment for poor performance. According to president of basketball operations Rod Higgins, the players' negative reviews of Dunlap in their postseason exit interviews were "part of the process, but not the only indicator" that Dunlap needed to go. Reportedly, the players complained not only about Dunlap's "snappish" demeanor, but about occasionally conducting practices that lasted for several hours.

Dunlap's appointment as coach of the Bobcats saw him become the first person to be a head coach in both Australia's NBL and in the NBA.

Dunlap is very well known for his implementation and use of a high pressure 1-1-3 Match-Up Zone.