Earl Schunk is in his 11th season as the D'Youville head men’s basketball coach, having established the foundation of the Saints' men’s basketball program over the past decade.
Schunk guided the Saints through uncharted waters during the 2020-21 campaign as his squad played their first season as a provisional NCAA Division II program and as a member of the East Coast Conference. The 2020-21 season featured a 94-80 victory over Villa Maria to open the season and a 70-68 nail-biter over Brant & Stratton (Buffalo).
Schunk's team in 2019-20 once again earned honors on and off the court, as the team had six members named to the Academic All-AMCC Team while Devon Darrell earned AMCC Player of the Week honors.
The 2018-19 season saw Schunk's squad earn an AMCC playoff berth, as the team also led the league in scoring and produced the conference’s leading scorer and rebounder. For the sixth-straight season, the team received the Academic Excellence award by the College Basketball Officials Association of America for their overall grade point average. The 2018-19 campaign also saw the team awarded the Peak Performer Award for the fourth-straight season, given by the AMCC to the men’s basketball program with the highest team GPA.
During his first season at D’Youville in 2011-12, Schunk led the program to its first-ever AMCC Tournament berth, as well as ranking in the top-25 nationally in four categories: points per game, blocked shots, steals and turnover margin. The 2011-12 squad set several program scoring records, including averaging the most points per game during D'Youville’s NCAA era and eclipsing the 100-point mark in four of the team's games. Individually, the then-Spartans had three players rank within the top-10 nationally for the first time in program history. Schunk's first team also had three players picked to all-conference teams for the first time since joining the AMCC.
Prior to D’Youville, Schunk was a successful high school coach in Western New York for 21 seasons. His last season as a high school coach in 2010-11 had Schunk led Tapestry Charter School to a record of 17-4 and the Section VI Class C finals, the first charter school in Western New York to ever advance that far in the playoffs. That season, Schunk’s Tapestry team led all Section VI high school teams in scoring, averaging 81.6 points per game.
Before Tapestry, Schunk was the varsity coach at Grover Cleveland High School from 1998-2010, compiling a 165-64 record and a pair of Buffalo Public School championships (2004, 2008). In 2003-04, his Presidents won the Section VI Class A championship and advanced all the way to the New York State Public High School Championship’s Final Four. That 2003-04 campaign saw Schunk win Section VI Coach of the Year honors from the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.
A 1977 graduate of Canisius College, Schunk spent 33 years in the Buffalo Public Schools system teaching mathematics and technology integration. At different points during that time, in addition to basketball, Schunk coached baseball, cross-country, track and field, tennis, and softball at Grover Cleveland High School.
