Matt Hunter on the sidelines of a game. (Photo William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By Max Ferguson, Staff Writer
In Aug., former Bullets Men’s Basketball Head Coach B.J. Dunne resigned to fill a vacant head coaching position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his stead, Coach Matt Hunter was hired from York College, a non-conference opponent for most Bullets sports teams. There, he served as the head coach of York’s Men’s Basketball Program for thirteen years with a record of 170-148. Leading into his inaugural season as the Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Hunter sat down to discuss his experience prior to Gettysburg, and what he hopes to accomplish here as head coach.
Matt Hunter’s time on the Salisbury University basketball team made him realize that he wanted to be a college coach. He then served in coaching roles at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and DeSales University before arriving at York. He began his coaching career right out of college at TCNJ. He reflected on this time in his career as “the year [he] really got a true education into […] what it takes on [the coaching] side of things”.
He then became TCNJ’s head coach at the age of 24 in his third year with the program. He shared that his time as a young head coach was an “incredible experience”, however, he also spoke candidly of his time in the role, stating that he “got to make a lot of decisions that in hindsight, [he] probably wasn’t ready for.”
Matt Hunter Headshot. (Photo William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
From TCNJ, he then moved to DeSales University, where he was hired as a full time assistant under Coach Scott Coval, who currently holds the title of third most victories among active DIII coaches. Coval has recorded 583 career wins as of Nov. 10, 2025. Under his mentorship, Coach Hunter “got [his] education on winning at an elite level and sustaining that success”.
Coach Hunter has described his onboarding process as “a whirlwind”. During this process, he has focused on getting to know his new players above all else. However, this has left him little time to prepare before his new team would play in their first game.
Upon his arrival to campus, he “[dove] headlong into focusing on [his players] and putting [the team] in order to play a basketball game in three weeks.” Hunter elaborated on this team philosophy by saying: “our job is to be better today than we were yesterday […] I don’t look any further than that.”
“I use the words ‘compete’ and ‘sacrifice’ a lot […] trying to educate our guys that; no matter what we’re doing, we’re competing to be the very best that we can be[…] understanding we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves,” said Hunter.
Coach Hunter inherits a talented group of players from across the globe. According to him, “talking to players from all over the world and different backgrounds is something that is neat and exciting and really adds to the culture of our program”. Coach Hunter wishes to maintain the international pipeline the program has. However, the sudden nature of his hire has forced him to be “way more involved with our current guys than our future guys.”
Coach Hunter is cognizant of the program’s success and looks to expand upon it. He remarked that he is “excited to build off all the great history here at Gettysburg and, you know, certainly put our own spin on things as we go.” He is also aware of the footprint his predecessor had on the athletics department as a whole. Coach Dunne was involved in bringing the ‘A Long Talk’ speaker series to campus and served as Student-Athlete Well-Being Coordinator among other involvements.
Bullets Basketball in a huddle with Coach Hunter. (Photo William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Coach Hunter looks to leave the Gettysburg community better than he found it. He “can’t wait to get involved. […] A lot more of those bigger picture, more impactful things will start to take place after the season is over. I can’t wait to really kind of tie myself and tie the program into all that Gettysburg has to offer.”
Coach Hunter hasn’t had much time yet to make an impression on the greater campus community.
When asked if there was one thing he wanted the campus community to know about him, he responded: “I just hope that they grow to respect the way that we compete, the passion that we’re going to have for our players, for Gettysburg College, Gettysburg Athletics, our men’s basketball program, and the way that we as coaches and players will represent us as a program”.
Coach Hunter, and his Bullets, will look to make good on his hopes as they enter regular season play, carrying the momentum of last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance. His experience, philosophy, and expectations stand as positive indicators that he and his athletes can achieve those aspirations.
This article originally appeared on pages 20 and 21 of the November 2025 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
