WATERBURY, Conn. -- Amid the thrilling finish on Friday afternoon for Post University Men's Basketball over Franklin Pierce University to kick off the 2024-25 season down in Bridgeport, Connecticut which saw senior guard Bol Akot hit a game-winning layup with less than three seconds in overtime to propel the Eagles to a 90-88 win, another milestone was reached for the program.

Leading the bench for nine years now and entering his eighth full season of action, Head Coach Marc Kuntz became the winningest coach in Post University Men's Basketball program history with 104, now 105 wins following an 83-69 win over Mercy University on Sunday. Coach Kuntz surpassed Head Coach Mike Donnelly who manned the bench from 2003-2010 with a record 103-99 overall and 77-55 in conference play to lead the Eagles to one CACC North Division title and one CACC Semifinals appearance. 

At 105-97 overall and 71-56 in conference play now, Coach Kuntz has the third-highest win percentage overall for a coach in program history out of all coaches at .520 behind only Post University Hall of Fame's 2002-03 Men's Basketball team led by Head Coach J.J. DeTemple who coached one season with a 19-10 record (.520) and 15-5 finish in conference play (.750) as well as Bill Jeffress who coached from 1991-94 when the program was still in the NAIA and finished his time with a 42-37 record with a .532 win percentage across three seasons. 

But among coaches that have led the program for as long as Coach Kuntz has, the eight-year veteran stands along with the highest overall win percentage as a coach and third-best conference win percentage at .559 behind only Al Solkaitis (six seasons) at 67-44 (.604) and Mike Donnellly (seven seasons) at 77-55 (.583). With seven conference wins this season, Kuntz will own the record for most conference victories in program history for any Head Coach of the program

Now with the program for nine years overall, Coach Kuntz has been with Post for the longest of any coach in the program's history surpassing Mike Donnelly's seven-year mark and with it has come unparalleled growth and success. After finishing under .500 in his first three seasons, the Eagles have finished with a record over .500 in each of the last four seasons and overall over .500 in conference play in five of the seven full seasons under Coach Kuntz.

Five of those seven seasons have resulted in a trip to the CACC Tournament as well as one season in which the Eagles won the CACC North Division during the 2021-22 season before falling to Felician University in the CACC Semifinals that year after finishing with a program-best 20-9 record. That year marked the fewest losses for a season in program history at just nine and best conference finish in program history at 15-2 overall. 

While still looking to capture that first CACC Championship since the Hall of Fame 2002-03 team, Coach Kuntz and his 2023-24 made program history by being the first team to be ranked nationally in all three of the major Division II polls. The Eagles peaked at 18th in the NABC National Poll on January 3rd as well as 11th in the D2CSC National Poll and 16th in the CBB Nation Poll on January 16th. While their season netted them a second-place finish in the CACC North Division which ended in the CACC Semifinals to Jefferson University, 70-58, Post found themselves in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Receiving an at-large bid, the Eagles went to the NCAA Tournament, competing in the East Region at Saint Michael's College where they took on nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College and pulled off the upset win, 80-72, to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in program history. After falling to Southern New Hampshire University, 69-64, who eventually won the entire East Region to go to the Elite Eight, Post finished with a 21-10 record which was their most single-season wins since going Division II and culminated in a .677 win percentage which was their highest for a single-season since joining the Division II ranks.

Now at 2-0 to start this season, the Eagles have high hopes of what they can do this upcoming year with nearly the same team coming back under Coach Kuntz for 2024-25. While the home slate for the Eagles kicks off this weekend against St. Thomas Aquinas College at 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon in the Drubner Center, Post faces one more road test against Bentley University on Wednesday at 7:30 PM up in Waltham, Massachusetts in hopes of starting 3-0 for the second straight season.