Jim Kunau, the new director of CUI’s nation-leading Master’s in Coaching & Athletics Administration (MCAA) program, brings a wealth of experience and a humble spirit to his new position.
“We were looking for someone to be a complete institutional fit, and I can’t think of anybody better-suited than Jim to run the MCAA program,” says Terry Olson, dean of School of Health and Human Sciences. “He has a laundry list of accolades to his name, but he’s extremely humble and keeps Christ at the center.”
Kunau coached football for nearly 30 years, primarily at Orange Lutheran High School, and also at Rancho Christian High School in Temecula. When he arrived at Orange Lutheran, it was a small school of 400 with a football team competing at the lowest level in California athletics. Within ten years, the school “flipped that completely” and went from a Division 12 school to a Division 1 school competing at the highest levels in the state.
Under Kunau, Orange Lutheran consistently competed against some of the best high school teams in the U.S., and won several championships in the ultra-competitive Trinity League. Kunau left a similar record at Rancho Christian, and was one of only two high school football coaches in California to win state championships at more than one school.
“It was God’s grace and providence,” Kunau says. “We had an outstanding school leader. You need great leadership at the top for that to happen, and that allowed me and others to flourish in what we were doing.”
His greatest accomplishment, he says, was to place a premium on faith formation and character development in their young men — “building champions for life,” as he calls it.
Along the way, Kunau was named Orange County’s Coach of the Decade by the OC Register, and received the CIF Coaching for Character award, and the Influence Christian Coach of the Year award.
Kunau hopes to bring the same values and continuing success to CUI, where he has taught leadership and ethics courses as an adjunct professor for nine years.
“What I love about Concordia’s MCAA program is we have the opportunity to make a significant impact on a lot of men and women who are extremely influential,” he says. “There aren’t many people as influential on the youth of America as coaches. We recognize this tremendous privilege and responsibility in our MCAA program.”
Previous directors Tom White and Tony Diaz “did such a good job building this program,” he says, and the core of the program will continue to be its transformative coaching model, which trains coaches in a high degree of competency while helping them become transformational leaders in the lives of the people they serve. Kunau defines that as having “a highly significant life and eternal impact on the young people they coach and work with every day in their colleges or high schools.”
Kunau says he is thrilled to have the opportunity to serve at such a strong, Christ-centered university. “Our program reflects the larger University in that regard,” he says.
CUI’s pioneering MCAA program has trained more than 4,000 nationwide, and remains the top program of its kind. Ninety percent of its students work at the high school or college level. The program offers an unusually broad spectrum of classes taught by experienced professionals.
Olson is confident Kunau is the right leader at the right time.
“His leadership style is phenomenal, and we couldn’t be happier to have him,” says Olson.