David Cunningham is entering his seventh season as a member of the Minnesota State football coaching staff.
Cunningham has 30 years of college coaching experience dating back to 1988.
The 2019 season saw the Mavericks set team single-season records in rushing yards (4,246), rushing attempts (713) and rushing touchdowns (59). Nate Gunn led the Maverick rushing attack with 1,667 yards as he set a team single-season record of 31 touchdown carries. Gunn would later go on to receive All-American honors from the AFCA, AP, D2CCA, Don Hansen and D2Football.com. The Mavericks finished the 2019 season ranked fifth in NCAA Division II in rushing with 283.1 yards per game.
In 2018, Minnesota State rushed for 3,345 yards and 37 touchdowns, both of which ranked fifth in a season in team history. Nate Gunn surpassed his previous single-season rushing record with 1,705 yards. Gunn also set a school record with 22 touchdown carries during the season as well. Gunn went on to claim All-NSIC First Team honors and D2CCA All-American Second Team honors.
The 2017 season saw Minnesota State establish a team single-season record of 4,036 rushing yards, to go along with 33 touchdowns. A pair of Mavericks rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2017, including Nate Gunn, who recorded an MSU record 1,550 rushing yards. Justin Taormina also tallied 1,140 rushing yards. Gunn would go on to claim All-NSIC First Team honors and was named the NSIC's Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
As a team, the Mavericks boasted the third-best rushing offense in Division II during the 2017 season as they averaged 288.3 rushing yards a game. Both Gunn (7th) and Taormina (23rd) ranked in the top-25 in rushing yards in Division II as well.
In 2016, the Mavericks rushed for 1,865 yards and 14 touchdowns. Running back Virgil Hammond led the Maverick rushing attack with 633 yards and four touchdowns. As a team the Mavericks averaged 169.5 rushing yards a game, including a season-best 291 yards and four touchdowns against Minot State.
The 2015 season saw Cunningham take over as the tailbacks coach for the Mavericks. MSU posted the seventh-highest single-season tally in program history as the Mavericks rushed 2,672 yard and 39 touchdowns. The trio of seniors Connor Thomas and Chad Zastrow, and junior Virgil Hammond, all rushed for more than 100 yards against Minnesota Crookston, marking the second time in program history that three Mavericks rushed for more than 100 yards in a single game. Thomas would go on to receive All-NSIC First Team honors and CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.
During the 2014 season Cunnigham served as Minnesota State's quarterbacks coach and he worked closley with MSU's RIcky Lloyd and Nick Pieruccini. Pieruccini went on to receive NSIC Newcomer of the Year honors, while Lloyd recived an All-NSIC Honorable Mention. Combined, Lloyd and Pieruccini threw for 3,034 yards and 32 touchdowns as the Mavericks advanced all the way to the NCAA Championship game for the first time in program history.
In his five seasons as the team's academic coordinator a total of 79 Mavericks have received Academic All-NSIC honors. Along with NSIC academic honors, seven Mavericks have combined for nine CoSIDA Academic All-American accolades including Joss Meeker (2014), Justin Otto (2014 & 2015) Jeffrey Raymond (2015), Connor Thomas (2014 & 2015), Jake Porter (2017), Alex Goettl (2018) and Shane Zylstra (2018).
In the previous four seasons, Cunningham served as an assistant coach for Mississippi Valley State where he primarily worked with the wide receivers, while serving as the special teams coordinator. He also served as the team’s academic advisor.
Prior to his stint at Mississippi Valley State, Cunningham coached for three seasons at Nicholls State, where he worked as the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant.
From 2002-06, Cunningham served as the head coach for the McPherson College football team. While serving as head coach, he was responsible for all aspects of the program, including most of the play calling. He worked primarily with the quarterbacks and wide receivers.
Cunningham earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1987, and later received his master’s degree in education from Western Kentucky in 1992. His father, the late Lou Cunningham, was the head men’s basketball coach at Campbellsville University for 25 years. His mother, Barbara, is a retired high school spanish teacher. His brother Phil is currently the associate head men’s basketball coach at Western Kentucky. Cunningham resides in Mankato.
