TEAM UNFURL’S MISSION: STRONGER TOGETHER
· Team Unfurl recognizes the many challenges SBU is facing and seeks to help by supporting the university’s biggest marketing tool – men’s basketball.
· Team Unfurl is led by smart, passionate, high-integrity Bona alums committed to doing things the right way.
· Team Unfurl is in constant communication with Athletics to ensure all compliance requirements are managed properly.
· Team Unfurl is an effective reaction to forces well beyond St. Bonaventure’s control – the rapid change in college athletics.
· Team Unfurl’s long-term vision: sustainability that leads to inclusion of other SBU sports programs, as well as remaining competitive in the A10 Conference.
· Team Unfurl believes that by working appropriately WITH the University, we will be STRONGER TOGETHER.
THE TEAM UNFURL BOARD
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BRIAN ATTEA, Esq. ’89
Compliance Chairperson
Managing Partner of Attea & Attea, P.C, a law firm in Western New York…as a Bonaventure mass communication undergrad he played for the men’s soccer and lacrosse teams…graduate of the University of Akron Law School…Brian has a lengthy Bonaventure pedigree: his father and three older siblings are also Bonnies…a founding member of Team Unfurl…manages all compliance and legal matters for the collective…has attended many major Bonnie games live, but his favorite moment is the Charleston tournament the Bonnies won in 2021, blowing out Marquette in the final and leaving the tourney ranked 16th in the nation.
JOHN MUCKE CPA ’83
Finance Chairperson
John is a lifelong Olean resident who started his own CPA firm 30 years ago…responsible for the origin of Team Unfurl…John also has a strong Bonaventure pedigree: his parents are huge Bona fans; his wife and daughter are grads…as a boy, when the Bonnies played on the ECAC Game of the Week, everything in his house stopped…he has been a season ticket holder for 35 years…Team Unfurl has given him a “terrific opportunity to give back”…favorite Bona hoop memory: the double OT loss to Kentucky in the 2000 NCAAs, when almost everyone in the building was rooting for the Bonnies.
BRIAN CONAGHAN ’99
Sponsorship and Marketing Chairperson
Senior Media Consultant at Valpak, a direct mail and digital media firm in Brooklyn and Staten Island he runs with his brother…a Bonaventure mass communication grad who started his career in radio in Olean, Pittsburgh and then finally in New York City at the legendary WPLJ… engaged because he realized that if Bonaventure didn’t embrace NIL as a community, the University as a whole would likely suffer…favorite Bonnie basketball moment: Tim Winn’s buzzer-beating three in the Reilly Center in 1998 to beat #20 UMass: “I’ve never heard a place that loud.”
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SAM MOLINARO ’80
Strategic Planning Co-Chairperson
Retired in 2023 as UBS Group Managing Director and President of UBS Americas Holding LLC...spent 11 years in senior leadership positions at UBS...prior to UBS, had a 22-year career at Bear Stearns, where he was EVP - Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer...well known in the industry as the public voice of Bear Stearns...a 1980 SBU grad with a Bachelor of Business Administration, and completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program..has served on the University’s board of trustees as well as several financial industry boards...favorite Bona hoop memory: Bonnies beating highly-ranked Syracuse in a raucous RC in 1977 behind Essie Hollis’s 37 points.
CHRIS LaPLACA ’79
Communications Chairperson
Joined Team Unfurl after retiring from a 43-year career at ESPN, most recently as Head of Corporate Communications…a ’79 graduate of the Jandoli School of Communications…upon his retirement, he was the longest-serving behind the scenes employee in ESPN history…a member of both the PR Week and PR News Halls of Fame, and is on the Jandoli School’s Wall of Fame….gave the University’s commencement speech in 2017 and serves on the Jandoli School Advisory Council…member of Bona’s Sixth Man Club as well…favorite hoop memory: covering the team for the campus paper during the 1977 NIT Championship season.
DENISE DEE ’89, ’93
Athlete Representation Chairperson
Holds several leadership positions at Dominican Academy, and all-girls high school in New York City, including Director of Guidance and Coordinator of Student Life…has two degrees from St. Bonaventure: a BBA in Marketing in 1989 and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology in 1993… a member of the first Bona Division I women’s basketball team…her dad is also a Bona grad and she has fond memories of going to games with him…joined Team Unfurl out of her passion for the school and love of the game of basketball…among her favorite hoop memories: her playing days and the men beating Syracuse in the Dome in 2017.
TYLER RELPH ’08
Athlete Representation Chairperson
Tyler is a former Bonnie hoop player and is a 2008 graduate...he was a member of Mark Schmidt’s first Bonnie team, and as a point guard averaged 12 points and four assists a game...Tyler also led the NCAA in free throw percentage his senior year...after Bonaventure, Relph made basketball his career...he has run Tyler Relph Basketball in Dallas, Texas for the past 12 years...has trained 21 McDonald’s All Americans and more than 50 NBA and WNBA players, including several top picks and all stars...Victor Wembenyama, Julius Randle and Derrick Rose have trained with Tyler.