Staff Directory

Phil Cunningham

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
Phone:
(785) 532-6531

Features (click on headline for link)

Efficiency, Competitiveness Drive Cunningham (K-State Sports Extra, May 20, 2026)

Veteran coach Phil Cunningham is in his first season as an assistant coach at Kansas State in 2026-27 after being hired by head coach Casey Alexander on April 10.

“It’s a tremendous honor and privilege to join Coach Alexander’s new staff at Kansas State,” said Cunningham. “Coach and I forged a friendship in the bleachers of Disney’s Wide World of Sports (in Orlando) as assistant coaches recruiting every summer at the AAA National Tournament, and I’ve always admired the way his teams play. He fits perfectly with the blue-collar mantra of the K-State community, and I can’t wait to be a part of this program.”

Cunningham spent the last two seasons (2024-26) at Louisiana-Monroe (ULM), including the 2025-26 season as head coach. His ULM team lost at K-State, 94-85, on Dec. 28.

Cunningham joined the ULM staff after a second stint at Western Kentucky, where he spent four seasons (2019-23) as associate head coach to Rick Stansbury. He was part of 77 wins, including 43 in Conference USA play, with one conference championship and one postseason appearance. The squad won 41 games in his first two seasons (2019-21) on staff, including 21 in year two with a first-place finish in the East Division of Conference USA and the NIT quarterfinals.

Cunningham earned his first Division I head coaching job at Troy in 2013, spending six seasons (2013-19) in charge of the Trojan program. He led Troy to the school’s first Sun Belt title and second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017, where the Trojans faced No. 2 seed Duke in the Greensboro Region. He transformed a program that was facing serious APR penalties into a winning culture on and off the court. The 13-win improvement in 2016-17 was one of the biggest in school history while they finished with most wins (22) since 2003-04.

Cunningham signed and coached two of the most talented players in Troy history in Wesley Person Jr. and Jordon Varnado, who hold the top two spots on the school’s all-time scoring list. The 2017 SBC Tournament MVP and 2015 SBC Freshman of the Year, Person became the second player in Sun Belt history to be named all-conference in four consecutive seasons. Person is the all-time career leader in Sun Belt history for made 3-point field goals. Varnado was a three-time All-SBC honoree and was recognized on the 2017 Sun Belt All-Tournament Team and 2018-19 Julius Erving National Small Forward of the Year Watch List.

Cunningham’s Troy teams prioritized academic achievement, as the Trojans earned the highest team GPA in the Sun Belt in 2016-17. The school also won two Sun Belt Team Academic Awards with 16 players who competed as seniors earning their degrees.

Prior to becoming a head coach at Troy in 2013, Cunningham spent one season as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky with head coach Ray Harper, where the pair led the Hilltoppers to 20 wins, a Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The team won four games in four days at the SBC Tournament to collect the school’s second-straight conference title before narrowly losing to No. 1 seed Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

Cunningham spent 12 seasons (2000-12) as an assistant coach at Mississippi State, where he first worked under Stansbury. While in Starkville, he was part of six NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 total postseason bids while the school posted a 259-137 (.654) overall record, including 109-83 (.568) mark in SEC play. The Bulldogs won five SEC Western Division crowns, one regular-season conference championship and a pair of SEC Tournament titles during Cunningham’s tenure. MSU made it to the semifinal round of the SEC Tournament in 7 of Cunningham’s 12 seasons, playing in the championship game four times while winning two titles.

All 12 recruiting classes Cunningham was involved with at MSU were nationally recognized, as he was the lead recruiter on highly-touted prospects such as Jarvis Varnado, Jamont Gordon, Arnette Moultrie, Charles Rhodes and 2004 Gatorade National Player of the Year Monta Ellis, who went directly to the NBA after signing with the Bulldogs.

Before joining the Mississippi State staff, Cunningham spent five seasons (1995-2000) as assistant coach under Naismith Hall of Fame head coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell at James Madison (1995-97) and Georgia State (1997-2000). He was part of 76 wins during that span, including four consecutive winning seasons and two conference championships (1998, 2000).

Cunningham was promoted to Driesell’s associate head coach in his final two seasons at GSU, helping build the Panthers into one of the winningest programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference. His recruiting efforts proved pivotal in the Panthers landing successive conference player of the year recipients Shernard Long (2001) and Thomas Terrell (2002).

Cunningham earned his first head coaching job at Sue Bennett College in London, Ky., in 1992. Taking over a former junior college program making the jump to four-year competition in the NAIA, he led the school to 48 victories in three seasons (1992-95), including postseason tournament appearances during the school’s first two years of postseason eligibility.

Cunningham was a graduate assistant for Richard Williams at Mississippi State in 1991-92.

A native of Paducah, Ky., Cunningham was part of a Division II national championship team at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1986-87 before transferring to Campbellsville to play for his father, Lou, who remains the school’s all-time winningest coach (335; 1966-72; 1978-97) from 1987-90. The younger Cunningham still ranks eighth on the school’s all-time list for assists (436), while he is tied for fifth on the single-season list with 236 assists (1989-90).

Cunningham started his coaching career at Campbellsville for his dad in 1990-91 when the pair guided the Tigers to a 19-11 record, a District 32 Championship and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.

Cunningham earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Campbellsville in 1990 before earning a master’s degree in sports administration from Mississippi State in 1992.

Cunningham, 59, has a daughter Shelby, who hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo and a master’s degree from Columbia.