St. Xavier Names Matt Cunningham As New Athletic Director

CHICAGO — Matt Cunningham, who has been serving as an assistant athletic director at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, has been named the athletic director at St. Xavier University, the school announced on Tuesday.

Cunningham, who helped oversee 16 sports programs and more than 340 athletes at his previous post, was responsible for internal operations, compliance and annual reporting for the school’s athletic department while at his most current job.

Cunningham brings extensive fundraising and external relations experience to St. Xavier, the school said in a news release. He has a proven record of success in advancement spanning annual fund, special event and major gift fundraising, having served in the development office for Wayne State University's Department of Athletics and Law School.

"Matt's education, experience and passion for helping student-athletes become leaders through the transformative power of a Saint Xavier education made him a top candidate in this search,” St. Xavier President Laurie M. Joyner said in the release. “His background, including his degrees in sports administration and law; his extensive intercollegiate athletic, coaching and administrative experience; his proven stewardship and fundraising success; and his strategic planning background positions him as a capable leader with the potential to make numerous important contributions to SXU.”

Cunningham served as baseball coach at UM-Dearborn and started the first varsity baseball program in school history. His teams improved their conference standing each season of his tenure, culminating in the first postseason berth, and win, in 2021.

His student-athletes achieved several individual accolades including a 2019 Google CoSIDA Academic All-American designation, the first for a team sport in institution history. Under his direction, the team maintained the highest male team GPA of 3.3 for the 2019-2020 academic year, received the annual athletic department Champions of Charity award in 2018, and had more First Team All-Conference position players (3) than any other team in the conference in 2019.

Cunningham graduated from Wayne State University, where he earned multiple degrees, including a bachelor's degree in public relations, a master's degree in sports administration and a Juris Doctor.