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It looks like the Villanova Wildcats are about to lose their top assistant coach and one of their best recruiters. Adam Zagoria is reporting that Baker Dunleavy is expected to become the head basketball coach for the Quinnipiac Bobcats, after Dunleavy’s name just emerged as a candidate earlier today.
Villanova's Baker Dunleavy is expected to be the new coach at Quinnipiac, source says.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 21, 2017
Update: Zags walked back the tweet almost immediately after.
Correction: Baker Dunleavy is a finalist for the Quinnipiac job, expected to meet with the President.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 21, 2017
Zags has a pretty good track record in the area, so there’s no real reason to dump cool water on this. If/when this does get officially announced, Villanova will be losing one of their best assets.
Dunleavy has been instrumental in the resurgence of Villanova’s program, is a great recruiter, and is loved by the players. Given his high stature and his name being tossed around for the Delaware job last season, we also knew this time was eventually coming.
Best of luck to Baker in his new gig, and we’re not officially on assistant coach watch for Villanova — though one option would certainly be to elevate existing staff members from within.