Deryl Cunningham is in his third season as an assistant coach at Indiana State working for head basketball coach Greg Lansing.
In 2009-10 the Sycamores overcame a ton of adversity to still put together its best season in nearly a decade under the professional leadership of the Sycamore coaching staff. Despite only having its full compliment of student-athletes for just 28 minutes of the rough and tumble Missouri Valley Conference slate, the Sycamores still recorded its first winning season since 2001 as they finished 17-15. ISU also finished the year with a 9-9 record in league play, bolstering the Sycamores out of the MVC Opening Round at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament by securing the league's No. 6 seed after finishing in a tie for fifth in the standings.
Starting guard Jake Kelly suffered a season ending knee injury with 12 minutes left in the conference opener at Southern Illinois and subsequently also lost Dwayne Lathan and Harry Marshall for extended periods over the course of the year.
Marshall, who was the heart and sole of the team, led the MVC in scoring in league contests with a 16.0 ppg average. Marshall was tabbed Second Team All-MVC and was named to the MVC's All-Defensive Team after turning in shutdown performances against most of the league's all-conference opposition. Running a well-rounded program, the Sycamores also two representatives on the MVC's Scholar Athlete Team as both Jordan Printy and Aaron Carter took those plaudits.
The payoff for the Sycamores continued as ISU reached postseason play for the first since 2001 when they accepted a bid to the 2010 College Basketball Invitational, appearing in a road contest at Saint Louis.
With a keen attention to details that most coaches think of as an afterthough, the Sycamores concentrated on extreme efficiency on the court, finishing the year as the nation's second leading free throw shooting team. ISU's 76.9 percent mark at the line finished just behind NCAA qualifier BYU on the NCAA Division I list for the best free throw shooting teams in the country.
Additionally, the Sycamores overcame a 24-point deficit in the second half at Missouri State before falling in overtime. The 24-point comeback in front of a national television audience was the largest in the history of the MVC by a team that at least forced overtime.
In his inital campaign with the Sycamores, Cunningham had a pair of players, Harry Marshall & Jay Tunnell, named to the All-MVC squad. The Sycamores won six of their final seven regular season contests and advanced to the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament. Indiana State won four conference road games last season, its most since 2000, including three roadies in the span of 10 days.
Cunningham, a native of Bellwood, Ill., worked two seasons as an assistant with the Jackrabbits under head coach Scott Nagy, where he worked primarily with the post players while also aiding in recruiting. He also helped guide the Jacks through their transition process from Division II to Division I and through their first season in the Summit League during the 2007-08 season.
Prior to joining the staff at SDSU, Cunningham began his coaching career and spent two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Ill. During the 2003-04 season, the Chargers won the conference title with a 13-0 conference record and won 17 straight games to end the season with a 23-6 record overall. The 2004-05 season proved to be even more exciting, as the Chargers tallied a school record 21 straight wins to start the season on their way to a 28-2 record, another conference title and a USA Today top 25 ranking.
Cunningham’s basketball career began at St. Joseph’s, where he finished his varsity career with a 77-12 record and was named a PARADE All-American, recognizing him one of the top 25 high school players in the country. A member of the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame since 2003, St. Joseph retired his jersey in 2004, where it sits next to the retired jerseys of Basketball Hall of Famers Isaiah Thomas & Daryl Thomas, who both won NCAA basketball titles at Indiana. Cunningham can also been seen in the 1994 Academy Award nominated documentary “Hoop Dreams” which was filmed at St. Joseph’s.
Following an outstanding prep career, Cunningham moved on to play collegiate basketball at Kansas State. Cunningham started and played in the NCAA Tournament his junior year and helped K-State to the final four of the NIT as a senior. He also started for the Wildcats during the 1992-93 season, when they upset their number-one ranked arch rival Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse on national television. When he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State in 1994, he did so as a two-time Big Eight honorable mention selection and as the school’s 7th all-time leading rebounder in his three seasons with the Wildcats.
Cunningham then moved on to play professionally in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). He began his career with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, where he played for current Detroit Pistons head coach Flip Saunders. In his rookie year with the Skyforce, he scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 158-88 win over the Omaha Racers, still the largest margin of victory in CBA history. He wrapped up his CBA career with the Saskatchewan Hawks, where he averaged 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and received CBA Player of the Week honors in January 2002.
Cunningham then took his game to top leagues in Europe, where he averaged 29 points per game while playing in Switerland to lead Versioux to its first ever championship appearance. He also averaged more than 15 points and six rebounds per game in Belgium and France and 25 points per game playing professionally in the Philippines, 21.5 points in the Dominican Republic and 18 plus points in Mexico, where he also ranked among the league’s top rebounders.
Cunningham and his wife Maria, a physical therapist, reside in Terre Haute with their baby daughter Ciara.
