# Carson Cunningham

Carson Cunningham (born May 7, 1977) is an American basketball coach and author who is currently an assistant coach for the Missouri State Bears basketball team. He is the former head coach of the Incarnate Word Cardinals men's basketball team.

## Playing career

Cunningham was a standout basketball player at Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana, where he was a four-year letterwinner and a three-time first team all-area selection, as well as first team all-state selection and USA Today honorable mention All-American as a senior.
Playing his freshman season of college basketball at Oregon State, Cunningham averaged 14.9 points per game, earning a place on the 1997 Pacific 10 All-Freshman team. Cunningham would transfer back to the state of Indiana, enrolling at Purdue to play under Gene Keady and was part of the Boilermakers 1999 Sweet 16 and 2000 Elite Eight squads.
Upon graduation, Cunningham played in the Continental Basketball Association for the Gary Steelheads and Rockford Lightning from 2001 to 2005, while also playing abroad in Australia and Estonia. While in Estonia, he led his club (Kalev/Cramo in scoring (21.5 ppg) and assists (4.8 apg).

## Coaching career

Cunningham got his start in coaching at the high school ranks, taking the helm of his alma mater, Andrean High School for five seasons, where he compiled an 81–39 record, winning four sectional championships before accepting the head coaching position at NAIA institution Carroll College in Montana.
At Carroll, Cunningham inherited a Fighting Saints team that had won just two games, and in five seasons amassed a 107–52 record, including three-straight 20-win seasons, and two Frontier Conference men's basketball regular season and tournament titles, along with three trips to NAIA Men's Basketball Championships, and two quarterfinal appearances.
Cunningham was named head coach at NCAA Division I institution Incarnate Word on March 22, 2018. Following five straight losing seasons as head coach, Incarnate Word fired Cunningham in 2023.
After his dismissal from Incarnate Word, Cunningham became an assistant coach for the Army Black Knights basketball team.
On May 1, 2024, Cunningham was named an assistant coach for the Missouri State Bears basketball team.

## Published works

Cunningham is the author of five books, which range from fiction to non-fiction on topics such as Olympic basketball, his experiences in the CBA, athletes who died in combat, the Chicago Cubs, and modern reimagining of Huckleberry Finn.

## Head coaching record
### NAIA

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Carroll Fighting Saints (Frontier Conference) (2013–2018) ||||||
| 2013–14 | Carroll | 9–19 | 4–12 | N/A | |
| 2014–15 | Carroll | 18–11 | 7–7 | 4th | |
| 2015–16 | Carroll | 23–10 | 12–5 | 2nd | NAIA Division I Elite Eight |
| 2016–17 | Carroll | 29–6 | 15–3 | 1st | NAIA Division I Elite Eight |
| 2017–18 | Carroll | 28–6 | 13–5 | 1st | NAIA Division I Second Round |
| Carroll College: | Carroll College: | 107–52 (.673) | 51–32 (.614) | | |
| Total: | Total: | 107–52 (.673) | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||

### NCAA Div I

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing |
| Incarnate Word Cardinals (Southland Conference) (2018–present) ||||||
| 2018–19 | Incarnate Word | 6–25 | 1–17 | 13th |
| 2019–20 | Incarnate Word | 9–22 | 6–14 | 10th |
| 2020–21 | Incarnate Word | 8–14 | 5–9 | 8th |
| 2021–22 | Incarnate Word | 7–25 | 3–11 | 8th |
| 2022–23 | Incarnate Word | 12–19 | 6–12 | T–8th |
| Incarnate Word: | Incarnate Word: | 42–105 (.286) | 21–63 (.250) | |
| Total: | Total: | 42–105 (.286) | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||