#185: Bubba Cunningham is the University of North Carolina Director of Athletics. Under his leadership, the athletic department has accomplished numerous academic and athletic achievements.
The Tar Heels have won 22 national titles and made an additional 14 runner-up finishes. More than 3,500 student-athletes have made the ACC Academic Honor Roll -- which requires a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better for the year. The Tar Heels finished in the top 10 of the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup nine times, including a 7th overall finish in 2023-24. He also has been committed to upgrading facilities to give student-athletes the best experience possible, overseeing more than $220 million worth of projects during his tenure in Chapel Hill.
Cunningham’s leadership has also extended outside of Chapel Hill as he has served on numerous NCAA committees over the last two decades. He is the past president of The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and sits on the board of LEAD1, an association representing the ADs from the NCAA Division I FBS schools. In 2019, he worked with the Atlantic Coast Conference to lead the launch of the ACC Network that fall.
He earned the 2019-20 AD of the Year Award from The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). In 2020, he was named to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and in 2022 was named to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Board of Directors. He also is currently serving on the ACC Autonomy Committee and was the Chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee in 2024.
Cunningham is in his 22nd year as a Division I director of athletics. He came to Chapel Hill after spending the previous six years as the director of athletics at the University of Tulsa, where he guided the Golden Hurricane through its initial move to Conference USA and spearheaded a $60 million athletics initiative. He also served as Ball State University’s Athletic Director from 2002-2005.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Notre Dame and worked in Notre Dame’s athletics department from 1988-2002. A former member of the Irish golf team (1982-83), Cunningham served as Notre Dame’s Associate Athletics Director for finance and facilities from 1995-2000 and was the Associate Director of Athletics for external affairs from 2000-02.
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