Gary Cunningham

Gary Cunningham is a college men's basketball coach. He was the head coach of the University of California, Los Angeles men's basketball team from 1977 to 1979, guiding them to a 50–8 record. He has the highest winning percentage of any coach in UCLA men's basketball history (.862). This puts him ahead of Gene Bartow (.852), Fred W. Cozens, and John Wooden (.808).

Gary played basketball at UCLA on the varsity team from 1960 to 1962. He played in the first Final Four appearance for the Bruins in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on March 19, 1962.^[2] Cunningham was drafted by Cincinnati in the 7th round as the 58th pick in 1962.

Gary was the coach of the UCLA freshmen in 1965, when high school All Americans Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen were on the team. The frosh defeated the UCLA varsity, 75 to 60, in the first game ever played in Pauley Pavilion, when the varsity was rated number-one in the nation. The following week, the varsity was still ranked number-one, indicating that sportswriters and coaches regarded the UCLA freshmen as number-one, although not eligible to be ranked. He was later an assistant coach under John Wooden and became the head coach at UCLA in 1977. He coached two seasons, winning the Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 conference championships and leading UCLA to a #2 ranking in the final polls both seasons.

He retired in the summer of 2008 after thirteen years as the Director of Athletics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

See also

• List of Head Men's Basketball Coaches at the University of California, Los Angeles

References