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Patrick Cunniff joined the Bulldog staff in August 2012. He is guiding UGA's cross country competitors and the rest of Georgia's middle-distance runners.

Cunniff wasted little time making his presence known across the Southeastern Conference and then the nation during the 2012 cross country season. The Bulldog men matched their best finish in history at the SEC Championships (second) before automatically qualifying for their second consecutive invite to the NCAA Championships thanks to a runner-up finish at the NCAA South Regionals. Georgia wrapped up its season by taking 19th at Nationals, marking the best finish in school history.

The Lady Bulldogs also surged to their first trip to the NCAA meet since 2007 during Cunniff's first year at the helm. The Georgia women arrived at the NCAA South Regionals ranked fifth, but answered the challenge with a third-place finish, the team's best showing in five years, to grab an at-large bid to Nationals. This marked the first time that both the Georgia men and women had advanced to the NCAA Championships during the same season since 2004 and only the second time in history.

Cunniff walked away from his first season with a school record eight All-Region performers and five runners who were on one of the All-SEC squads.

A native of North Kingstown, R.I., Cunniff came to UGA after serving five years as Long Beach State's cross country and assistant track coach from 2007-12. His distance runners highlighted Cunniff's final season with the 49ers by winning a conference individual championship in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. Each one of these titles came with a school record performance at the respective conference meets.

In addition to helping lead Long Beach to 2008 and 2011 Big West Conference men's outdoor team championships, Cunniff put together an impressive resume with the 49ers. He watched his distance runners set school records 25 times, coached seven student-athletes to the NCAA Preliminary Round and led five to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. In the classroom, his runners earned CoSIDA All-Academic team honors from 2007-11.

Cunniff guided Matt Maldonado to an Olympic Trials "A" Standard time of 3:37.68 in the 1500 meters and 3:59.08 in the mile to qualify for NCAA indoors, which marked the first sub-4:00 mile in school history. Maldonado went on to advance to the semifinals of the Trials. Another individual, Kip Kangogo, recorded two wins and a runner-up finish at the Canadian Nationals after being instructed by Cunniff.

Cunniff also was responsible for administrative duties including all aspects of team travel for the 49ers. He also started the Pyramid 5k and assisted in numerous fundraising and community outreach events for Long Beach.

Getting his collegiate coaching start in the state of Texas, Cunniff spend two years coaching at Texas Christian University (2004-06). Similar to his years at Long Beach, his resume was quickly filled with numerous accolades. Cunniff coached seven NCAA Division I Championship qualifiers (three cross country, one indoor track, three outdoor track), guided his team members to 12 individual conference championships and coached student-athletes who set school records four times.

Cunniff directed the Horned Frogs to a runner-up finish at the 2004 Conference USA Championships and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional, highlighted by having the individual champion on the women's side. He also assisted in coaching Jackson Langat to the 2006 NCAA indoor 800 crown. His cross country teams maintained a GPA over 3.0 during his tenure in Fort Worth.

His first coaching stop came at the University of Texas as a volunteer assistant. During his time in Austin, Cunniff worked to help the Longhorns win the 2003 and 2004 Big XII Outdoor Championships as well as the 2003 South Central Regionals in cross country. Also in 2003, the Texas track team registered a second-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

On the Texas distance side, Cunniff, who has a USATF Level I Certification, coached Brian Rue to a personal-best 1:47.21 in the 800 and qualification to the 2004 Olympic Trials. His cross country team also maintained a GPA over 3.0.

Transferring to Georgia from UNC-Charlotte, Cunniff competed for the Bulldogs from the 1988 cross country season to the 1991 track and field season. He became a regular contributor for Georgia's cross country team and made his way into the school's all-time top-10 list in the 10,000. Cunniff graduated in June 1991 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.