Troy University Athletics
Basketball (M)
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- cunninghamp@troy.edu
- Phone:
- 3685
Head Coach Phil Cunningham is entering his sixth season as Troy's head basketball coach after finishing the 2017-18 campaign with a 16-17 overall record and a 9-9 mark in conference play.
At the end of last season, Wesley Person and Jordon Varnado earned spots on the All-Sun Belt Conference team. Person, All-Sun Belt Third Team selection, finished the season averaging 17.6ppg and was the sole Trojan to start in all 33 games. Person also became the first player in Trojan history to surpass the 2,000-point barrier. Varnado, All-Sun Belt Second Team selection, led the squad averaging 18.0ppg.
In 2016-17 Cunningham led the Trojans to one of the most successful seasons in program history, finishing with a 22-15 overall record. The Trojans won the Sun Belt Tournament Championship for the first time in school history that season and reached March Madness for just the second time ever.
During the 2016-17 campaign, Troy had the biggest wins turnaround in team history, the third most Sun Belt wins and the most wins in a season since the 2003-04 year. The Trojans rattled off four-consecutive wins in the Sun Belt Tournament for the first time ever to capture the championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament to face Duke in the opening round in Greenville, S.C.
The signs of a successful season were evident immediately as Troy rattled off eight non-conference wins, the most in a season since the Trojans won nine in the 2002-03 season. One of the highlights of the early slate was Troy’s 65-63 win on the road against reigning Big West Conference champions Hawai’i two days after Thanksgiving.
Troy narrowly missed out on the first win over a ranked opponent in program history after falling 82-77 to No. 24 USC on the road before winning back-to-back games over Cornell and Chicago State to win the lower division of the Las Vegas Classic.
That momentum carried into conference play with a series of impressive wins to start 2017. Troy beat Georgia State 80-77 on Jan. 9 for just the fifth home loss for the Panthers in the past four seasons. That was followed immediately by a dominating 93-71 win over preseason conference favorite UT Arlington in a game in which Wesley Person was one 3-pointer shy of the school record with 10 made threes.
Following a loss to South Alabama on Feb. 4, Troy rattled off a 10-2 record through the end of the conference tournament highlighted by a perfect 4-0 home record, 4-0 neutral site record and a 3-pointer in the final seconds on the road to beat ULM in OT.
Person and Jordon Varnado continued the dominance to begin their careers as Person was named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team while Varnado gathered All-Sun Belt First Team honors. The Trojans also had the highest team GPA of all Sun Belt men’s basketball teams for the second consecutive year.
The 2015-16 season was highlighted by Person as he made a 3-pointer in every game on the year and continued his NCAA leading streak of most consecutive games with at least one made 3-pointer. He led the Sun Belt Conference in 3-pointers by eight en route to being named to the All-Sun Belt Second team.
Cunningham also oversaw the emergence of Varnado. As a freshman, he established himself as a dual threat, scoring 13.2 points per game with five double-double performances. Varnado scored in double digits 21 times on the year.
In the 2014-15 season, Cunningham led the Trojans to a 10-19 record, including sweeps over Sun Belt runner up Georgia Southern and UT Arlington.
In his second season at the helm, Person earned Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, the first men’s basketball Trojan in Troy’s Division I era, and All-Sun Belt Third Team honors. Person scored in double figures in 26 of Troy’s 29 games, accumulating 412 points in the 2014-15 season, the most by a freshman in Troy’s Division I era, breaking the previous record held by Robert Rushing in 1998-99.
The 2013-14 season saw the Trojans post an 11-20 record including an appearance in the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Championships. In Cunningham’s first year, Hunter Williams broke the single-season 3-point record, surpassing assistant coach Ben Fletcher. Highlighting the season was a 85-81 win over Georgia State in Trojan Arena on ESPN2, which was the Panthers’ lone loss in Sun Belt play.
The 25-year coaching veteran and nationally recognized assistant coach was named the head coach at a press conference on March 26, 2013, in Troy’s state-of-the-art Trojan Arena.
Cunningham, who became the sixth head coach in Troy history, was named one of the top 25 assistant coaches in the NCAA by Rivals.com and was recognized by The Hoop Scoop recruiting publication as one of the top NCAA Division I men’s basketball assistant coaches.
Cunningham took over the Troy program after Don Maestri announced his retirement on March 9, 2013, following 31 seasons and 500 wins as the head coach of the Trojans.
The Campbellsville, Ky., native spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Mississippi State before joining the staff at Western Kentucky last season. Cunningham’s teams at Mississippi State and Western Kentucky made 11 postseason appearances in 13 years, including seven NCAA Tournament appearances. All 12 of the recruiting classes he was involved with at Mississippi State were nationally recognized.
On the court, Cunningham’s daily contributions to the Bulldog basketball program resulted in Mississippi State’s string of six NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 years. He worked primarily with the Bulldog guards and had a heavy hand in the program’s recruiting efforts, helping land players such as Jarvis Varnado, Jamont Gordon, Arnett Moultrie and also Monta Ellis, who went directly to the NBA out of high school after signing with Mississippi State.
Cunningham was a part of five Southeastern Conference Western Division crowns, one overall conference championship and two conference tournament titles in his final nine seasons at Mississippi State The Bulldogs averaged over 20 wins per season since he joined the staff before the 2000-01 season.
Before his tenure at Mississippi State, Cunningham spent five seasons as an assistant coach under legendary head coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell at James Madison and Georgia State. Hartwell was an associate athletic director at Georgia State and served as the color analyst for men’s basketball on the Georgia State Radio Network during Cunningham’s tenure with the Panthers.
Cunningham, who was promoted to Driesell’s associate head coach his final two seasons at GSU, was instrumental in helping transform the Panthers into one of the winningest basketball programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference. His recruiting efforts at Georgia State proved pivotal in the Panthers landing successive conference player of the year recipients Thomas Terrell and Shernard Long.
Prior to moving to Georgia State with Driesell in 1997, Cunningham spent the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons as an assistant coach on the staff of Driesell at James Madison.
Cunningham’s 18-year stint as an NCAA Division I assistant coach was preceded by a three-year stay as head basketball coach at Sue Bennett College in London, Ky. Taking over a former junior college program making the jump to four-year competition in the NAIA, Cunningham paced Sue Bennett to 48 victories during his three seasons at the helm of the Dragons, including postseason tournament appearances during each of the school’s first two years of postseason eligibility status.
Cunningham began his coaching career in the 1990-91 season as an assistant coach on his father’s staff at Campbellsville University after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He helped lead the Tigers to the District 32 championship and an appearance in the NAIA Tournament.
He then went to Mississippi State as a graduate assistant for the 1991-92 season, where he earned a master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration.
During his prep athletic career at Taylor County High School in Campbellsville, Ky., Cunningham was an all-state honorable mention backcourt performer in addition to excelling on the diamond as a shortstop.
After graduating from Taylor County, Cunningham began his collegiate playing career at Kentucky Wesleyan and won a NCAA Division II National Championship in 1987. Citing a desire to play for his highly respected father, Cunningham subsequently transferred to Campbellsville College, now Campbellsville University, where he finished his career ranked among the school’s all-time leaders in career assists.
Cunningham has one daughter, Shelby (15).
