Henricksen: Dunbar hires Donnie Kirksey

In an effort to rise in what has become a very competitive Public League Red-Central, Dunbar has hired Donnie Kirksey, who leaves Julian after one season as its head coach.

Kirksey, a former college assistant coach at UIC, is familiar with the Red-Central. He enjoyed a lot of success in his three years as head coach at Hyde Park, where he guided the program to a 71-18 record from 2007-2010.

Now he takes over a Dunbar program that finished 5-18 last season.

“There is a lot of history at Dunbar, and it’s a great opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” says Kirksey.

Kirksey believes the pieces are in place at Dunbar to compete with the likes of Kenwood, Hyde Park and King, along with the return of Curie this coming season, in the Red-Central.

“It’s centrally located, it’s still in the Red [Division] and the administration knows what it takes to build a program at Dunbar,” says Kirksey. “Now it’s about setting the tone and bringing basketball back. They’ve had success at Dunbar, but it’s ready to go to another level. We want to keep the kids in that area to stay in the area and go to Dunbar.”

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