Cunningham coming home

ND's career scoring leader excited to join McGraw's staff.

May 01, 2012|CURT RALLO | South Bend Tribune

Coach Muffet McGraw's Notre Dame women's basketball team faced a critical moment in the 1997 NCAA Tournament, when the Irish were playing at perennial national power Texas in the Sweet 16, and the Longhorns' faithful were bellowing at full strength.

"It was a very hostile environment, huge crowd, and at the time it was the biggest game we ever played in, because we had never been to the Final Four," McGraw said.

Beth Morgan, now known as Beth Cunningham, took over for the Irish, turning a heavily favored Texas team into burnt orange, and silencing a hostile environment.

"She was coaching on the floor," McGraw said of Cunningham in that milestone game for the Irish. "It was so loud, the players couldn't hear what we were running, so Beth took over game management. Late in the game, we were in the huddle, talking about match-ups. Beth was the one who said which Texas player would be shooting and who should guard her. That's when I said, 'this girl's got a future in coaching.'"

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Cunningham's future took her to Virginia Commonwealth University, where she has been the head coach for the past nine seasons.

Now, Cunningham is returning to Notre Dame to be an assistant coach on McGraw's staff. Cunningham replaces Jonathan Tsipis, who is the new head coach at George Washington University. Notre Dame is expected to make an official announcement on Tuesday.

"I couldn't be happier to have Beth on board," McGraw said of Cunningham joining the staff. "She is someone who is incredibly competitive. She's intense. She's a lot like (Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey) and I in terms of that. I think Skylar (Diggins) has broken almost all of Niele's records, so now I've brought in the all-time leading scorer to see if she can go after Beth."

Wearing the Blue and Gold as Beth Morgan, a high school all-star from Bloomington South High School, Cunningham scored 2,322 points in her Notre Dame career, having set or tied 28 school records for the Irish.

At VCU, the 36-year-old Cunningham was 167-115 (.592) with postseason appearances in each of her final five seasons, including the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. VCU has averaged better than 22 wins since 2007-08.

"I'm thrilled that coach McGraw even thought about me for the position," Cunningham said. "I've had a great opportunity at VCU, 11 years total, nine as the head coach. I'm really proud of what our program has been able to accomplish in those 11 years. We laid the groundwork for uncharted territory for the women's basketball program and what we've done here, but at the same time, it's a very unique opportunity to go back to Notre Dame, go back to my alma mater.

"It's always been a dream of mine to coach with coach McGraw and her coaching staff at Notre Dame. It's a very unique opportunity. After discussing the opportunity with Coach, I just felt like it was something that I couldn't pass up."

Cunningham will join another former head coach on the Irish staff. Carol Owens was in charge of the Northern Illinois program before coming to South Bend.

"Now we have three head coaches on our bench," McGraw said. "That's going to be a great thing for our program.

"Beth has a lot of strengths, and I think the first one is going to be in the gym working with the wings. She played the position. She can still play the position. I think we're going to have some great games in practice with her and Niele on the other team. She can show them not just what they're supposed to do, but she can get out there and do the things that will make them successful."

McGraw knows that a coach as highly regarded as Cunningham may not stay an assistant at Notre Dame for very long.

"I would expect that in a few years, maybe even two years, that another job opens up and she'll have a chance, now with an even better resume, with head coaching experience ... and coaching against teams like Connecticut, Baylor, Tennessee," McGraw said. "Fran McCaffery's path was like that (as a men's coach). He was at Greensboro, he came here to be an assistant with Digger Phelps, and now he's the head coach at Iowa. It's that experience, recruiting top-level players, that's attractive to an athletic director."

McGraw said that Cunningham has an extremely high basketball IQ and a reputation for outworking her opponents.

A two-time all-American who played three seasons of pro ball, Cunningham said that she plans to fill a number of roles for the Irish.

"Having been a head coach, you have to wear a lot of different hats," said Cunningham, whose father, Bob Morgan, won more than 1,000 games as Indiana University's baseball coach. "In order to be successful, you have to be pretty good in a lot of areas. For me, I've always been extremely competitive, somebody who works really hard. I've always been a gym rat type of kid growing up.

"My foundation is that I've worked my tail off in anything I've done, either as a player at Notre Dame, or a coach. I take a lot of pride in doing things the right way. I love the X's and O's of basketball, the strategy of it. I love the opportunity to work with kids on a daily basis and help them reach their goals and help them try to be better. It's no secret that the lifeblood of the program is recruiting. That's what you've got to be really good at."

She's particularly excited to be able to make a bigger impact at her alma mater.

"Notre Dame has really been a special place for me and my husband, and will be for my family," said Cunningham, whose husband Dan graduated from Notre Dame and is a former Irish women's basketball practice player. "It will be exciting to get back on campus and help assist in any way possible to help Coach win her second national championship."