Former Knoxville Boys Track and Field Coach Mike Cunningham is now coaching at the college level. Drake University announced that Cunningham has been hired as an assistant for the Track and Field program. Cunningham tells KNIA/KRLS News what his new role entails.

“I’ll be an assistant coach in charge of the sprinters and the jumpers. So, that will include all the events 100, 200, and 400 (meter dashes) long jump, triple jump, and high jump actually. And then will actually kind of tag team with the Head Coach right now, Asha Gibson-Smith, with the hurdlers, so I’m going to work with probably 40 kids total.”

Cunningham adds that he treasures his time coaching high school athletes.

“I have such great memories, but I remember practices and working with the kids individually. It’s easy to remember the stuff that happens at the State Meet, or on the Blue Oval, or at the Drake Relays. You know, those are great memories but then being able to work with those kids on a daily basis and you remember something specific that happened at a practice that I still look back on and chuckle and smile. And then being able to follow the kids after they graduate from high school, those are my favorite memories.”

Cunningham coached the Knoxville boys varsity track and field team from 2002-2014, winning six district titles, and placing in the top ten at the state meet six times, with athletes winning six individual state titles. Most recently, Cunningham had been an assistant for the West Des Moines Valley Boys program and prior to his stint at Knoxville, was an assistant at his alma mater Simpson, where he competed from 1986-1989.