USD Baseball 1980

HEAD COACH - JOHN CUNNINGHAM

In his sixteen seasons as head coach of the University of San Diego baseball team, JohnCun­ ningham has taken his Torero teams on a steady climb up the ladder of success. Cunningham started his career at USD in 1964. After experiencing hard times his first few years he turned things around. From 1969 through 1979 the Toreros compiled nine winning seasons out of eleven. His teams have won thirty or more games three times, first in 1971. then back to back in 1978 and 1979* Four of his teams have gone on to post-season playoffs, two of those four becoming Regional Champions and College World Series par­ ticipants. Cunningham's 1971 team won the regional title while setting the school record of 3^-wins. For that performance John was named District 8 "Coach of the Year". His 1978 team also made a World Series appearance, breaking 13of the school's team records and 12 individual records along the way. Last year was Cunningham's first effort on the Division I level. Contrary to expectations,

he guided his Toreros to an impressive 32-19-1 record and a fourthplace finish in the Southern California Baseball Association. The SCBA is recognized as one of the toughest conferences in the country. In April of this season, his seventeenth as Torero mentor, John will be coa­ ching in his 700th career game and will be moving ever closer to400 wins. His teams to date have amassed 3^-9 wins, along with 313 losses and three tiesfor a career percentage of .526. On eight occasions his players have been selected as Ail-Americans and thirteen have signed professional contracts. John is a native of San Diego. He attended St. Augustine High School where he made scholastic honor role all four yearsand excelled in baseball and basket­ ball. In hoops, he led San Diego county in scoring asa junior and a senior, and was All-CIF in the latter. He then moved on to the University of San Francisco where he made the Pre­ sident's Honor Roll six times and acheived membership in the National Jesuit Honor Society, "Alpha Sigma Nu". He received aB.S. degree in history as well as a gen­ eral secondary credential. Athletically, he was again abaseball, basketball standout. In basketball he male All-Conference and honorable mention on the Ca­ tholic All-American team. Baseball earned him a professional contract with the Baltimore Orioles. In his senior year John was USF's "Athlete of the Year". After college, he went into the military. He was a member of the All-Army basketball team and participated in the AAU Championships and the i960 Olympic tryouts representing the All-Service team. John Cunningham has been successful throughout hislife, be it student, athlete, or presently as a coach. His baseball program is based on aphilosophy of self-motivation and personal responsibility. It requires the playerto cul­ tivate self-discipline and control; toassume responsibility forthe consequences of his actions. When each person does his job, the entire team prospers. Al­ though intensely devoted to winning and acheiving perfection on the field, John

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