Kentucky native and 20-year coaching veteran Phil Cunningham will join the Hilltopper coaching staff as an assistant for the 2012-13 season. WKU Head Basketball Coach Ray Harper made the announcement Tuesday. The addition of Cunningham makes Coach Harper's staff complete.
Cunningham has spent the past 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Mississippi State University. The Campbellsville native attended Taylor County High School and then played two collegiate seasons at Kentucky Wesleyan College before transferring to Campbellsville College to continue his playing career under his father, the legendary Lou Cunningham. Harper was an assistant coach at Kentucky Wesleyan while Cunningham played for the Panthers, and both were members of the 1987 NCAA Division II national championship team.
"Coach Cunningham has a wealth of high-level experience, and he will be a great addition to our staff," Harper said. "I have known him for quite some time dating back to our days at Kentucky Wesleyan, and he has a passion for coaching that the players really relate to. Coach Cunningham is a perfect fit for our program and will complement the current staff extremely well."
All 12 recruiting classes Cunningham was involved with at Mississippi State were nationally recognized, and he was recently tabbed by Rivals.com as one of the nation's top 25 assistant coaches. On the court, Cunningham’s daily contributions to the Bulldog basketball program resulted in Mississippi State’s recent string of six NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 years.