It was 1979 and he was one of two graduate assistant coaches remaining from Frank Cignetti’s staff when Don Nehlen was hired after the conclusion of the ’79 season, West Virginia’s fourth straight losing campaign.
Dunlap figured he had one shot to make a good first impression on Nehlen or else he was going to be like the rest of the Mountaineer coaches - unemployed.
“When Don came in he didn’t know any of us and since we were the graduate assistants and we were the pick-up-and-carry-the-stuff guys, he was coming in on an airplane from somewhere and I was supposed to pick him up at the Pittsburgh airport and take him to Shaler High School where (new assistant coach) Carl Battershell was waiting for us,” Dunlap recalled.