Dressed in a gray suit, brown tie, white shirt and black shoes, Christian Dunbar sat calmly in his chair as the noise in the gym grew louder and the intensity level of his Eagle Rock players increased as they marched south. Tried to fight the gate. City Section Division II Championship Game.
The pressure was mounting, the urgency was mounting, and yet Dunbar refused to change his behavior. He was sending a message to his players.
“I think if I am calm, the players will be calm,” he said.
Eagle Rock beat South Gate 53–49 to win their third title in 10 years under Dunbar, but it was their most satisfying as the Eagles lost their best player to a knee injury on December 19 and had to lose their Had to regroup before finishing the city section. season with a 14-game winning streak.
For being able to adjust and get the most of his players, Dunbar was voted The Times’ Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.
He is the former head coach of Chatsworth and Mission Hills Bishop Alemany. He secured a PE teaching position in Eagle Rock and didn’t quit, constantly finding ways to win with his neighborhood group of kids, many of them two-sport athletes. Some football players helped the team in this season.
“They brought that toughness to our basketball team,” he said.