Melissa Dunne enters her third season as head women's basketball coach at Holy Family with the 2018-19 season. Dunne was named head coach on July 16, 2016 becoming the fifth head coach in program history.
Last year, Dunne guided the Tigers back to the CACC Tournament after finishing fourth in the South Division with a 9-10 conference record. The Tigers turned their season around when the calendar switched over to 2018. Holy Family won six of its first seven games in the New Year and went on to finish the season 10-18 overall.
In her first season the Tigers went 8-19 overall and 7-12 in CACC play. Holy Family had two players selected to the All-CACC team, seniors Jill Conroy and Abigail Iannotti. In addition, three of Dunne's players earned CACC All-Academic honors.
Dunne came to Holy Family after being named assistant coach at Division I Loyola University Maryland. Prior to that, Dunne spent two seasons at George Washington where she served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. The Colonials went 29-4 in 2014-15, setting a program record for wins in a single season. George Washington went on to win the Atlantic 10 Regular Season and Tournament titles, earning its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2008. The following season, George Washington returned to the postseason after claiming its second straight A-10 title.
Dunne began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Drexel in 2002 and worked her way up the coaching ranks. She spent the next four years with the Dragons before moving on to serve as an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island for the 2006-07 season.
After a one-year stint at URI, Dunne returned to Drexel as recruiting coordinator in 2007-08. The following year, the Dragons claimed their first-ever CAA Regular Season and Tournament titles to secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Drexel went on to make back-to-back CAA Championship game appearances in 2012 and 2013, appeared in a program-record five straight postseasons (2009-2013) and won the 2013 Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
Dunne was a four-year letter winner at Temple University where she helped turnaround an Owls' program under WNBA All-Star and three-time Olympian Dawn Staley. Dunne was named the team's Most Improved Player as a sophomore as the Owls' produced the program's first winning season in more than 10 years and earned a bid to the WNIT. As a senior, Dunne was named captain of the 2002 squad to led the Owls to their third 20-win season in school history, while also winning the program's first A-10 and Big 5 Titles as well as their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 1988-89 season.
Dunne earned her bachelor's degree in journalism, broadcasting and public relations at Temple in 2002 and her master's degree in public communication from Drexel in 2006.
Melissa Dunne's Year-By-Year Coaching Record
| Year |
School |
Overall |
CACC |
CACC Tournament |
| 2016-17 |
Holy Family |
8-19 (.296) |
7-12 (.368) |
N/A |
| 2017-18 |
Holy Family |
10-18 (.357) |
9-10 (.474) |
Quarterfinals (0-1) |
| Overall |
- |
18-37 (.327) |
16-22 (.421) |
0-1 (.000) |
