USD Baseball 1986

JOHN CUNNINGHAM Head Coach

Beginning his 23rd season as head coach of the University of San Diego baseball program, John Cun- ningham has guided the Toreros from a NCAA Division II power to one of the most respected Division I teams in the Southern California region. John enters this season just eight games shy of 500 career victories.

A native of San Diego, Cunning- ham attended St. Augustine High School where he was a scholastic and athletic standout receiving AII-CIF honors in baseball and led the County in scoring during his senior year basketball season. Cunningham attended the University of San Francisco where he again was a baseball and basketball standout, while also making the Presidents' Honor Roll six times and achieving membership in the National Jesuit Honor Society, "Alpha Sigma Nu." He received a B.S. Degree in History as well as a general secondary credential. In basket- ball, John was named to the All-Conference and Honorable Mention on the Catholic All-American teams. Baseball cornered him a profes- sional contract with the Baltimore Orioles. In his senior year, Cunning- ham was USF's "Athlete of the Year." John began his career at USO in 1962, with 1981 seeing him win his 400th game. From 1969 through 1984, the Toreros have compiled twelve winning seasons out of seventeen. His teams have won thirty or more games five times, first in 1971; then back to back in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981 . Four of his teams have gone to post-season playoffs; two of the four becoming regional champions and College World Series participants. The 1971 team won the regional title while setting the school record of 34 wins. For that performance, Cunningham was named District 8 "Coach of the Year." 1979 was Cunningham's first effort at the Division I level. Contrary to expectations, he guided the Toreros to an impressive 32-19-1 record and a fourth place (14-12) finish in the SCBA. His 1980 Torero team finished the year at 30-25-1 (14-14 SCBA} and, in 1981 USD finished the year 30-15-1 and a fourth place finish in the Conference with a 15-12-1 record. 1982 was USD's first year under the .500 mark in SCBA action with a 13-15 record and a 29-24-1 overall mark. The last three seasons the Toreros have fallen below the .500 mark, however, Coach Cunningham is confident his '86 squad will be very competitive in the West Coast Athletic Conference this season. Besides coaching baseball, John works for the National League of the Major League Baseball Association as the San Diego Padres official scorer. John and his wife Nancy have one son, Geoffrey, age 11.

CUNNINGHAM'S COACHING RECORD YEAR WON LOST PCT. 1964 12 19 .387 1965 17 21 .447 1966 20 26 .435

(NCAA Regionals, 0-2)

1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

14 13 22 21 34 20 19 23 19 26 24 33 32 30 30 29 17 20

.350 .351 .564 .568 .739 .513 .463 .605 .487 .619 .558 .600 .615 .545 .545 .547 .386 .362 .310 .502

26 24 17 16 12 19 22 15 20 16 19 22 19 25 25 24 27

(NCAA Playoffs, 4-2)

(One Tie)

(One Tie)

(NCAA Playoffs, 5-3)

(NCAA Playoffs. 5-3)

(One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (Two Ties) (One Tie)

36

17

39

(NCAA Playoffs, 9-9) (Ten Ties)

CAREER

492

489

2