Jan. 8, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Gary Cunningham, the Athletics Director at the University of California, Santa Barbara since September of 1995, will retire during the summer of 2008, he announced Tuesday.

During Cunningham's nearly 13 years overseeing the Athletics Department at UCSB, the program experienced unprecedented success in competition, the classroom and in facilities development.

In 2000, he oversaw the passage of a student fee referendum which resulted in the construction of a new facility devoted exclusively to intercollegiate athletics. The facility opened in 2005 and currently houses the offices of all coaches and administrators as well as a weight room, training room, student-athlete service center, auditorium and classroom. In addition, Cunningham oversaw significant facility improvements to the Thunderdome, Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, Harder Stadium and Campus Softball Diamond.

During Cunningham's time at UCSB, Gaucho student-athletes have had unparalleled academic success. In the most recent NCAA tracking period, UCSB student-athletes achieved a graduation rate of nearly 80-percent, the highest among Big West Conference schools.

In terms of competition during Cunningham's tenure, UCSB has won six of the last seven Big West Conference Commissioner's Cups, representing the conference's all-sports champion, numerous teams and individuals have advanced to NCAA postseason play, and the 2006 Gaucho soccer team won the school's second Division I National Championship. In addition, Cunningham was responsible for hiring some of the program's most successful coaches, including men's soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg, 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.

"I am proud of what we have accomplished in my twelve and a half years," Cunningham said. "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."

In a statement released to the University community on Tuesday morning, UCSB Chancellor Dr. Henry Yang praised the man he hired in the summer of 1995.

"With profound regret and gratitude, I am announcing that, after more than a dozen years of visionary and strong leadership, our director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Dr. Gary Cunningham, has expressed his wish to retire from the directorship sometime next summer in order to spend some long-awaited time with his family while also devoting himself to issues affecting intercollegiate athletics at the national level," Chancellor Yang stated. "With his tremendous legacy and stature, he will continue to make important contributions to the promotion of athletics and our understanding of their impact on society.

"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," he concluded.

Cunningham arrived at UCSB after successful stints as Athletics Director at Fresno State, the University of Wyoming and Western Oregon State College. Before entering the world of collegiate athletics administration, he spent two years as the men's basketball coach at UCLA. Cunningham, who played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA, also assisted the Wizard of Westwood on the Bruins' bench for 10 years.

Cunningham has been a prominent national and international leader, chairing a number of committees for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the Big West Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference. He was the president of NACDA in 1988-89, and since 1995 has served as president of the USA-International University Sports Federation. In 2005 he was honored with the first-ever NCAA Division 1-AAA Lifetime Achievement Award, an award that is now named in his honor as the "Gary Cunningham Lifetime Achievement Award." He has received a number of other prestigious recognitions, including the NCAA Division 1-AA/AAA Athletic Director of the Year in 1999, the NACDA/NIT Athletics Directors Award in 2000, induction into the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2001, NACDA's James J. Corbett Award in 2003, and the U.S. Sports Academy Carl Maddox Sports Management Award in 2006.

Chancellor Yang said that an advisory committee would be formed soon and a national search for the school's next athletics director would take place.