UIW said the hire was unanimous. Sources say the president forced his choice. Now, a...
Incarnate Word coach Carson Cunningham shouts instructions to his team during college basketball action against Central Arkansas in the McDermott Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2019.When Incarnate Word hired Carson Cunningham as its men’s basketball coach in April 2018, he seemed a reasonable choice, given his NAIA success and his background in Catholic higher education.
Nevertheless, the school decided before the start of the 2021-22 season to grant Cunningham a four-year extension. His base salary was boosted to $175,000 and will increase 6 percent every season through 2025-26, according to contract provisions provided to the Express-News. When the committee’s recommendation reached the president’s office, Evans rejected the selection and ordered then-athletic director Brian Wickstrom to hire Cunningham, according to three people involved in the selection process who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We’re not where we want to be today,” UIW athletic director Richard Duran said, “but I’m confident we can get to where we want to be in the future.”IWC head coach Carson Cunningham watches during IWC practice on Thursday, January 9, 2019UIW began looking for a new basketball coach after Ken Burmeister was fired following the 2017-18 season, ending a 12-year tenure.
In any coaching search at UIW, the recommended candidate has a one-on-one meeting with Evans. Duran said those meetings are the extent of Evans’ involvement in hiring. “There has never been a time as AD that Dr. Evans told us, ‘This is what you’re doing. This is who you’re hiring,’” Duran said. “That has never been the case. If there are red flags in that final interview, he definitely will let me know, but I’ve never been told, ‘This is the direction you have to go.’”
He had just received a “very awesome opportunity at a Power Five school” to step into an assistant coaching role, he said, and though his original contract ran through the end of the 2022-23 season, he wanted to discuss UIW’s recent progress and his future with the program. The average team GPAs of 3.24, 3.46 and 3.43 from 2018 through 2021 rank among the best in Division I basketball, Cunningham said. The Cardinals also logged 324.5 hours of community service during the 2020-21 academic year, he said, adding that the “three Cs” of court, classroom and community are marks of a successful program.“It made sense to me to let Carson know that I’m committed as the AD to you as our basketball coach,” Duran said.
UIW has finished in the bottom 20 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings in each of Cunningham’s four seasons, and the Cardinals are one of only three programs to finish in the bottom 15 nationally in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency rankings in each of the past five years.
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