Missouri State women’s basketball coach Beth Cunningham said she addressed speculation about her future at the school with her team, saying that she will return as the Lady Bears’ coach next season.
Cunningham addressed her future at the school on Monday afternoon ahead of the team’s Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament first-round game against Oral Roberts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Asked directly if she’d be the Lady Bears’ coach in 2025-26, Cunningham responded: “Yeah. I don’t have any reason right now not to be here. Until I’m informed otherwise, I’m the coach here. After the year we had, I don’t think anybody’s making a decision otherwise.”
Cunningham, recently named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, has been mentioned regarding several power-conference coaching vacancies. She said any reports of her taking interviews via Zoom are false.
Missouri State lost to Belmont in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon. In her three seasons, Cunningham has yet to lead the Lady Bears to the NCAA Tournament. The team won a share of the MVC regular-season title this past year and has been 68-30 over the last three years.
Cunningham said speculation about her future with the school didn’t impact her team during last week’s conference tournament. She told the Lady Bears not to read into reports by anonymous accounts on social media, saying she hadn’t interviewed with any other schools.
“I just wanted to take that out of the question right from the beginning,” Cunningham said. “We were heading into a huge weekend, and the last thing we needed was any sort of distraction, let alone one that was completely untrue. I’ve been solely focused on this team for the entire year. Social media rumors are going to fly, but that doesn’t mean we have to be part of it.”
Cunningham was previously the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth, where she spent nine seasons and became the school’s all-time win leader. She departed VCU to join Muffet McGraw’s staff at Notre Dame, her alma mater, where the Fighting Irish won a national championship in 2018.
Over the last three seasons, Cunningham has proven to be a coach worthy of attention from larger programs. When she took over the program, she was left with little, but she built and developed a roster into one that could compete for league titles.
The Lady Bears were within seconds of reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2024 but allowed a shot at the buzzer in the MVC championship game, falling to Drake in a heartbreaking fashion.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Beth Cunningham: Missouri State women’s basketball coach says she’s staying
