Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year: Eagle Rock’s Christian Dunbar

Wearing a brown suit, brown tie, white shirt and black dress 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 continued to rise as they tried to fight. against South Gate in the Division II City Section championship game.

The pressure was mounting, the urgency was mounting, and yet Dunbar refused to budge. He was sending a message to the players from him.

“I figure if I’m calm, the guys will stay calm,” he said.

Eagle Rock defeated South Gate 53-49 to win its third title in 10 years with Dunbar, but this was the most satisfying because the Eagles lost their best player to a knee injury on December 19 and had to regroup before finish your Section of the City. season with a 14-game winning streak.

For being able to adapt and get the most out of his players, Dunbar has been selected Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year by The Times.

He is a former head coach at Chatsworth and Mission Hills Bishop Germany. He landed a physical education teaching position at Eagle Rock and hasn’t gone away, continually finding ways to win with his group of neighborhood kids, many of them bi-sport athletes. A couple of footballers helped the team this season.

“They brought that toughness to our basketball team,” he said.