Dec 30, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham prior to a game against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
Remember Gunther Cunningham? How could you not? It has been a while, but last we heard of Gunther was him tampering with Chiefs free agent Jarrad Page.
Well, you may or may not know Gunther was relieved of his defensive coordinator duties in Detroit after the franchise decided to bring in Jim Caldwell to be their new head coach. However, this doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have a job with the Lions. According to a report from the Detroit Free-Press, Cunningham, who will turn 68 in June, will be staying on with the team as a coach.
"Gunther Cunningham, the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator the last five seasons, will remain on staff in 2014 as a senior coaching assistant who also will have a role in personnel.…He said in December that he had no plans to retire after the season, his 32nd in the NFL, and planned to coach again this fall.“Unless I write a book first,” Cunningham, 67, said at the time. “But no, I feel good. I feel better than I have in a long time. The last four years, probably lost a lot of weight and work out every day and feel good about it, and I’ve never done it in my career. So either I’m having a lot of energy or God’s trying to tell me to take care of my body or I’ll be out of here.”"
Ah, good ol’ Gunther. It is good to know Cunningham still has a place in the NFL somewhere. It is hard to imagine the NFL without knowing he’s barking some sort of insanity at defensive linemen on some practice field.
An interesting thing to come out of this is how well in-tune with the modern game Cunningham is. According to the report and some tweets, Gunther is really into the analytics of football.
Don't know all the specifics of his role, but Gun is very thorough in draft/free agent analysis & very in tune with the numbers of the game
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) February 12, 2014
That is not something I ever would have guessed about Cunningham, but I suppose it makes sense. I mean, how do you keep a job in the NFL without adapting, right?