Cunningham dives right in

Steve Addy

Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

When Charles Cunningham replaced Glynn Cyprien as a UNLV basketball assistant on Sept. 1, he barely had time for proper introductions before heading out on the road to recruit.

Cunningham's efforts paid off immediately, as he was instrumental in gaining an oral commitment from 6-foot-10 center Simplice Njoya from Cameroon only 10 days later. Njoya is the likely centerpiece of what could become a strong 2001 recruiting class for the Rebels.

Since then, Cunningham is showing the same assertiveness during UNLV practices. After a few days of quietly observing the players and learning their capabilities, the new guy on the staff is taking an active role in getting the Rebels ready for the season.

"It's just like being in business and going into a new office setting," Cunningham said. "I think it's incumbent upon the person who's moving in to figure out how they fit in and to adjust to methods that are already successful there.

"Because I was out recruiting, I wasn't able to get a feel for our players and they didn't have a feel for me, either. (After practice began) I wanted to watch our guys and see how they interact, how they react to instruction and direction, general things like that."

Coach Bill Bayno noticed that the 48-year-old Cunningham was being careful about interjecting early on.

"He is much more comfortable now," Bayno said. "He is involved and I am giving him more freedom, because now he understands our system. For the first week, he was getting a feel for everything -- not only the players, but what I want and how I want it done. Since then he has been very aggressive."

Cunningham said he just wanted to develop a rapport before making himself heard.

"I try to catch a kid when he comes out of a drill and speak to him on the sideline while the mistake is fresh in his mind," he said. "But I give positive reinforcement, too. If a guy executes a drill really well, I want to point that out while it's still fresh."

Though some players were upset to see Cyprien leave for Eddie Sutton's staff at Oklahoma State, they seem to be taking quickly to Cunningham, a veteran of 14 years as an assistant at five schools, including Murray State and Minnesota.

"After he got the job, we didn't see him for a couple of weeks," guard Vince Booker said. "But when he got back (from recruiting), he made his presence felt.

"He is working himself in pretty good. He comes in with plenty of knowledge. He is good on fundamentals. We go in and watch film with him and he's very vocal about things. He hasn't been hesitant to speak up at all.

"But he also jokes around with us, too. He's building relationships with the guys. We're all getting to know each other."

So far, there seems to be no negative effect from Cyprien leaving the team relatively late in the summer (Aug. 14). Cunningham has also joined in the recruitment of shooting guard Ernest Turner of Somerdale, N.J., a top-40 prospect who is deciding between UNLV and Villanova.

On the practice court, Cunningham works mostly with the Rebels' center and power forwards. He played power forward for Northern Alabama in the early '70s.

"I expected there were good players here and that's what I've found," Cunningham said. "I came to a place where there are basically four returning starters from a (Mountain West) championship team. The talent is good, and so is the league."