Jun 4, 2024 By Bill Hughes 5 min read

Twice, Joe Dunn has taken over high school basketball teams and became the winningest coach in the history of the respective programs.

Now, more than a decade after stepping away from being a head coach, Dunn is taking over the Charleroi boys basketball program, and the longtime coach is thrilled.

“I am excited to get things going,” said Dunn. “The players and I are still in the get to know each other type of thing. The ceiling on your basketball program is determined by character and skill level, and without question, the character of these guys is they are hard-nosed and give super effort.”

How Dunn’s hire came to be took unique turns.

Charleroi Superintendent Ed Zelich was involved with the interviewing process, and his past dealings with Dunn factored into the hire.

When Zelich coached at Waynesburg, he and Dunn became familiar with each other, and they later served on the WPIAL basketball committee together.

When the Charleroi position opened unexpectedly on March 1, Zelich reached out to Dunn to see if he knew of anyone that might be interested.

“When we spoke and our conversation continued, I could see that he still had the fire in him and he was looking for another challenge,” Zelich said. “I have always been impressed with Coach Dunn, and he is the winningest coach at both Mount Pleasant and Trinity.

“How many coaches can say they have the most wins at two schools? He turned around both programs and has a track record for building programs.”

Dunn wasn’t interested in being the head coach initially, but Zelich and an assistant from the past reached out.

“He reached out, and I offered to help him,” he said. “He asked if I was interested and I said I wasn’t looking, but he called me back the next day. Out of nowhere, my first assistant (Johnny Lee) called and asked when do we start, and that was it.”

Lee and the late Stan Noszka were keys on Dunn’s staff for years.

After going 43-31 at Seton-LaSalle, Dunn took over at Mount Pleasant.

The 31 years prior to Dunn being hired, the Vikings went 130-470. Under Dunn, the team won 145 games, 15 more than the previous 31 seasons combined between 12 head coaches.

Dunn then led Trinity to 136 wins, and between the three stops, three of Dunn’s teams won section titles.

Dunn will retain three coaches from last year’s staff under Joe Greer, who left after one season. The three holdovers are Jim Diaz, Ramont Small and Tony Bristol.

Dunn holds Greer and Bill Wiltz, the longtime head coach at Charleroi who finished up after the 2022-23 season, in high regard.

“The people that came before me at Charleroi were some outstanding coaches,” Dunn said. “Coach Greer is an exceptional basketball guy, is a kid-first guy and is making my transition easy.

“Bill Wiltz, I count him as a friend. He has a profound legacy and impact on a lot of players. His former players rave about them, and not just in basketball but all aspects in life.”

Zelich is impressed with how many times Dunn has already met his new players.

“He has met with the kids four times already and has had open gyms,” Zelich said. “He is a builder, and it is already about relationships.

“I am excited to see it evolve, and I am excited for our student-athletes. He can do it. It is just going to take a little time.”

Zelich is ecstatic that a coach of Dunn’s stature has come to Charleroi.

“It is unbelievable that a candidate of his quality looked at a smaller school,” Zelich said. “It is going to be exciting, and our students are going to learn life lessons.”

Dunn gave credit to Zelich for his return to the sidelines.

“Dr. Zelich is a key reason why we are here, and we share the same person-oriented vision of academics and athletics,” he said. “He is an astute goal-oriented leader.”

Dunn has always stressed a family environment with his teams, and his family has always been his main team.

His daughter, Mary, played at Youngstown State and Pitt, and was an academic All-American before playing professionally in Ireland. She is an assistant on the University of Alabama Birmingham staff.

His son, Michael, was all-state at Trinity, played three years at Shippensburg and will finish out his career next season at Edinboro.

Dunn’s daughter, Ninalee, was a multi-sport athlete at Trinity, and has been the boys team scorekeeper since she was in 10th grade.

Dunn shared that his wife, Susan, signed off on him returning to the sidelines.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t share that in all these years of head coaching, I have the best coach’s wife ever,” he said. “That is a huge part of the equation.”

In closing, Dunn joked about his age and how it won’t be a factor.

“When you first start, you are too young and too insane, and at the end, the game has passed you by,” he quipped. “It is like Goldilocks. I don’t buy into the age things, as it is about the energy and that comes from the coaching staff.”