Gary Cunningham Position: Director of Athletics Institution: University of California - Santa Barbara

Gary Cunningham was named UC Santa Barbara's (UCSB) athletics director on August 3, 1995. Beginning his 13th year at UC Santa Barbara, Cunningham's time at UCSB has been marked by numerous accomplishments, including major facility upgrades and additions that significantly improved departmental infrastructure.

Cunningham has also been a key player at the national level. He is currently a member of the NCAA Division I-AAA ADA Executive Committee and he serves on several Big West Conference committees. Cunningham is a past president of the 2,300 member National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and has served two three-year terms as a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee. He chaired the NCAA Division I Basketball Officiating Committee for both men and women, and has served as a member of the prestigious NCAA Committee on Committees, the Basketball Issues Committee, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics and the NACDA Finance and Management Committee. Cunningham has also served on the NACDA Preseason Football Games Committee.

In 1999, for his efforts on the national scene as part of numerous NCAA committees and on the international scene as the president of the United States Collegiate Sports Council, Cunningham was selected as the NACDA/Continental NCAA Division I AA-AAA Athletics Director of the Year. It was the first year in which the honor was awarded and only six were given out. In the spring of 2001, he was named the winner of NACDA's NIT Award. Additionally, in 2003, Cunningham was named the recipient of the NACDA James J. Corbett Award, the highest honor available to an administrator in collegiate athletics. In June 2005, he became the first-ever recipient of the NCAA Division I-AAA ADA Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2006 the honor was renamed the Gary Cunningham NCAA Division I-AAA Lifetime Achievement Award. In the spring of 2006, Cunningham was selected as the Carl Maddox Sports Management Award winner by the United States Sports Academy. In the summer of 2006, the Academy named him to its Board of Trustees.

Prior to his appointment at UCSB, Cunningham spent nine years as the athletics director at Fresno State. Previously, he spent five years as the athletics director at Wyoming and two years as the athletics director and chair of health & physical education at Western Oregon State.

A member of the UCLA Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame since 2001, he began by attending UCLA as a student-athlete on the basketball team coached by the legendary John Wooden. In 1967, he became Wooden's assistant coach, a position he held until 1975. After Wooden's retirement in 1975, Cunningham spent two years as the executive director of UCLA's Alumni Association. In 1977, he returned to the bench as the head coach of the Bruins, a position he held for two seasons, posting a 50-8 record. He was selected Pacific 8 and West Coast Coach of the Year following the 1978-79 season and his winning percentage of 86.2 remains a Bruins record. Following the 1978-79 season he gave up coaching and began his career in athletics administration as he was named athletics director at Western Oregon State.

Cunningham received his bachelor's degree in physical education, his master's in physical education and his doctorate in education, all from UCLA.