The love of the game forms connections. On and off the court those connections become a family and forms a bond that can’t be broken.

Flour Bluff High School Girls Basketball Assistant Head Coach, Dave Dunlap knows the meaning of family and a brotherhood that has formed between he and Flour Bluff High School Head Girls Basketball Coach, James McMinn. The two coaches have known each other 39 years beginning when McMinn was a student at Ray High School. McMinn was also a student teacher for Dunlap during Dunlap’s tenure as a head coach at Ray. The two share a bond on the basketball court as well as in life. They are like brothers.

On the court, their philosophies are similar when teaching students success on the basketball court and in life.

“We[McMinn] have a lot of the same philosophies in life and in teaching kids which corresponds with why I think we work well together,” Dunlap said. “It’s easy to connect to him and he’s such a good person.”

When McMinn was facing adversity during his early years Dave Dunlap helped him through the tough times.

“Coach [Dunlap] was always there for me as far as in college,” McMinn recalls. “He always kept an eye on me and gave me odd jobs around the house to help me earn some money. It’s kind of a continuous ‘got your back’,” McMinn explained.

While McMinn was building his coaching career first as the head coach at Incarnate Word Academy and then Flour Bluff in 1993, Dunlap was continuing a rich coaching tradition at Ray. The two continued to keep in touch.

“We would still talk even though I was here [Flour Bluff] and he was at Ray,” McMinn said.

The two are brothers on and off the court. It’s not just the love of basketball that has kept their bond strong over the years.

“He knows my family really well,” McMinn said. “My parents and I worked in a restaurant and he would come by and get treated like a king at the restaurant”.

It’s more than just basketball with James McMinn and Dave Dunlap. The bond between the two have created wonderful chemistry which resulted in countless playoff games, regional tournaments and a state appearance during the 2016-2017 season.

“It’s special, I only have a sister, but he’s like a brother to me it is a good relationship because he makes it easy to want to work hard every day,” McMinn adds.

The definition of brotherhood is more than the X’s and O’s, they’ve helped each other through adversity and helped coaching athletes by teaching life lessons and values. Their bond is one that can’t be broken.

“I’m just the happiest coach in the United States to have Coach Dunlap on the staff,” McMinn said. “His knowledge and understanding of people and kids benefit the hard work you see during the games. Coach Dunlap is the reason why we’ve been successful.”

For nearly half a century the chemistry between the two has flourished and will always be remembered in Flour Bluff Hornet history.