UCSB athletics director announces plans to retire

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After nearly 13 years as athletics director of the UC Santa Barbara Athletics Department, Dr. Gary Cunningham announced Tuesday that he plans to retire this summer.
During his tenure, Cunningham oversaw the construction of an athletic facility at UCSB devoted exclusively to intercollegiate athletics and spearheaded improvements to several athletic facilities there.

“I am proud of what we have accomplished in my twelve-and-a-half years,” Cunningham said in a prepared statement. “The accomplishments were not a one person effort, everyone has contributed and I am grateful to all of the staff, coaches and student athletes. As a department we have achieved a great deal without compromising our student athletes.”
Under Cunningham’s watch, the graduation rate for student athletes at UCSB has climbed to nearly 80 percent, the highest of any Big West Conference school and 10 percent higher than the university as a whole, according to the UCSB Athletics Department web site.
The school’s exploits in competition under Cunningham have come to a head in recent years, with the most significant highlight arriving in late 2006 when the Gaucho men’s soccer team captured the school’s second NCAA title.
The Gauchos have also won six of the last seven Big West Conference Commissioner’s Cups, which are awarded to the Athletics Department that finishes highest through all sports at the conference championship level.
According to a statement from the athletics department, Cunningham is responsible for hiring some of the program’s most successful coaches, including men’s soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg, men’s basketball coach Bob Williams, former softball coach Kristy Schroeder, men’s tennis coach Marty Davis, men’s water polo coach Wolf Wigo and women’s soccer coach Paul Stumpf.
UCSB Chancellor Dr. Henry Yang, who hired Cunningham in 1995, said an advisory committee will be formed to begin a national search for Cunningham’s successor.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Cunningham for his outstanding contributions to Gaucho athletics, and especially for his inspirational mentorship of our coaches and student athletes,” Yang said in a prepared statement.
Before taking the job at UCSB, Cunningham was athletics director at Fresno State, University of Wyoming and Western Oregon State College.
Prior to becoming an athletic director, Cunningham was a student athlete on UCLA men’s basketball team. After graduating from UCLA, Cunningham became the Bruins’ freshman coach and for eight years between 1967 and 1975, was the team’s assistant coach beneath legendary head coach John Wooden.
After two years as the executive director of UCLA’s Alumni Association, Cunningham took over as the Bruins’ head basketball coach in 1977 and over two seasons, led the team to a 50-8 record, the best two-year span in the team’s history.