Scholar Stories: Rebounding Leader Dunston Eyes Broadcasting After Basketball
2/14/2018 11:27:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Features
Continuing the popular series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan women's basketball forward Jillian Dunston has only two regular-season games remaining, and she hopes successful runs in the Big Ten Tournament and, hopefully, the NCAA Tournament keep her Michigan basketball career going well into March Madness.
But when she has pulled down her last rebound -- Dunston's among the conference's leaders in that category -- and fired up her teammates for the final time, she knows what she wants to grab next.
"Once I graduate and have my degree, I want to go into broadcasting," Dunston said. "I've always wanted to be on TV, but I was never willing to do the acting classes. I was so busy with sports."
She plans to pursue a post-graduate degree in communications, while also becoming a graduate assistant coach for a college team.
Dunston, who also played soccer at Academy of Holy Cross in Kensington, Maryland, was certain of one thing when she began classes at Michigan. She wanted an athletics-related career, and elected the sport management major.
"I really loved it," said Dunston, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. "It's been a nice, smooth route for me. I'm most interested in sports team culture and human resources.
"I've liked all of my sport management professors, and the topics in the courses have all been enjoyable."
She learned the importance of staying ahead on assignments and using tutors to become a strong student, while also meeting the demands of playing major college basketball.
And when broadcasting became her career goal, she secured an ongoing internship beginning last summer with University of Michigan Sports Television, which produces a wide variety of shows and video highlights available at MGoBlue.com and on football and basketball shows seen on television in various markets.
Dunston has learned from Anthony Polidano, a producer responsible for coverage of her women's basketball team, as well as producer Patrick McLaughlin and editor Nolan Bona. She also has touched base with Collin McCarty, director of video production.
"I'm back with them now," Dunston said after a recent practice at Crisler Center. "They've taught me editing. Anthony helped me with creating and writing my own story, and worked with me on camera exposure. Then Patrick taught me how to write stories and interview people. Nolan shows me a lot of editing things.
"So, it's been the full 360 degrees on production, and it's been awesome."
Having the video production studio in Crisler makes it convenient for Dunston, whose basketball practices and games also are there.
"I did a story on student-athletes who have internships here," said Dunston. "But it was not published and was just meant to be practice. I did the script for it and interviewed them off camera, learning how to do it."
She is learning the basics now, and that will serve her well in the future.
When asked about her 800th career rebound, Jillian Dunston (right) was joined by teammate Katelynn Flaherty (left), who offered congratulations and became the target of a smiling Dunston's joke.
What's her dream job down the line?
"I really want to be like Jemele Hill or Stephen A. Smith," said Dunston, noting those ESPN on-air personalities and website writers. "I'd love to talk at a roundtable and go to the big games. Broadcasting games would be cool, but I want to be on the roundtable, and just have to figure out how to get there."
That quest will begin soon after playing basketball ends, and the 5-foot-11 forward has accomplished much at Michigan.
Dunston is a unique talent. She leads the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.3-to-1, and is fourth with 9.2 rebounds per game. Wolverines head coach Kim Barnes Arico is confident letting Dunston, second on the team with 3.8 assists per game, run the offense at times from out top. Though, her forte is clearing the boards.
Dunston has 813 career rebounds to rank No. 5 all-time at Michigan, and likely will finish No. 2 behind the leader, Trish Andrew, who had 928, from 1989-93.
She averages a modest 3.4 points per game but is doing the jobs asked of her, the less-glamorous stuff, for the good of the team.
When Dunston reached the 800-rebound plateau with 12 rebounds Thursday (Feb. 8) against Northwestern and was asked about it at the postgame press conference, teammate Katelynn Flaherty patted her on the back and smiled, later adding that Dunston's perfect screens were a big part of the reason she scored 36 points in that game.
"I love it because I do a lot of the dirty work," Dunston said of being recognized for 800 boards. "I don't get a lot of -- not that I need recognition -- but I don't get recognition like this one."
She smiled and glanced at Flaherty, and noted that the praise generally goes the way of Michigan's career scoring leader.
"But I love it" Dunston added on the rebounds. "I hope to get many, many more."
When asked where she has sensed the most personal growth in four years, Dunston said, "I think leadership was the biggest area of growth. Putting others before yourself was the hardest thing to go through to get the full aspect of it.
"Sometimes you can get caught up in yourself, but (leadership is) the most beneficial thing you can learn, not only in sports but in life, too. When you have a family, it's not about you, it's about everyone else."
Her parents, Joe and Donna, never miss a home game and mostly fly between Baltimore and Detroit to do so. But they also make nearly every road game.
"You can count the games they've missed this year on the fingers of one hand," said Dunston.
She said her dad heads Motorola's department of public safety for Maryland, and her mother is a consultant. Both enjoy the job flexibility that allows them to follow Jillian and the Wolverines across the country.
Michigan plays Wednesday night (Feb. 14) at Minnesota before finishing the regular season Feb. 22 with conference-leading Maryland at Crisler.
So, this is the stretch run for her parents, too.
"It just hasn't hit me yet emotionally," said Dunston. "I mean, it won't until it's over. But my parents are getting very, very sad. I can tell.
"I mean, this is one of the best times of your life! But we're enjoying it. I don't want to put pressure on myself, and I'm just enjoying it. I'm soaking it all in."
