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UCM’s Dunham Repeats as AD of the Year
Posted: May 06, 2025

UCM’s Dunham Repeats as AD of the Year

The California Pacific Conference announced Tuesday its annual end of the year awards for individuals and teams.  UC Merced went out with a flourish, winning a total of 11 regular season or tournament titles and culminating in the honoring of the people behind the stellar 2024-25 season.  The Bobcats' David Dunham has been named the Cal Pac Athletic Director of the Year, the fifth time he has been selected since 2015 and the second year in a row.  The only athletic director UCM has known, Dunham completed his 18th year guiding the Bobcat athletic program, the final year UCM will compete in the conference.  He has overseen the growth in programs and facilities, and this year has led the transition to NCAA Division II status, where UCM will compete beginning next fall.  UCM's final year in the NAIA was its most successful with five regular season titles [men's soccer (co-champions), women's soccer (co-champions), women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball] and six conference tournament crowns [men's and women's cross country, men's soccer, women's volleyball, women's basketball, men's volleyball].  In 2024-25, Dunham and his staff have hosted five Cal Pac Championship postseason tournaments:  cross country, men's soccer, men's and women's basketball, and men's volleyball.  As it has over the past two decades, UCM athletic programs continue to excel off the playing fields as well, with student-athletes earning academic recognition on CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes, and Cal Pac All-Academic Teams.  Along with his position at UCM, Dunham serves in many other leadership roles, including the Cal Pac Representative for the National Administrative Council and the NAIA Women's Soccer Selection Committee.

Three additional annual awards were announced by the conference.  For the second year in a row, Simpson was voted the Sportsmanship Award, Cal Maritime earned recognition as the top Sports Medicine program, and UC Merced was named the outstanding Sports Information program.

The Cal Pac Sportsmanship Award is a year-long, program-wide award voted by the head coaches of the conference's nine scheduled sports. As part of each sport's season-ending awards, the coaches select a team which in their eyes best exhibited the core value of sportsmanship during the season.  This year marks the ninth time since the award's inception in 1999-2000 that Simpson has received the honor. 

The Sports Medicine and Sports Information awards are based on a vote taken from the respective recipients' peers.  This the second time the Cal Maritime Sports Medicine team has recognized as the top program in the Cal Pac, having received the honor in 2011-12. The Keelhauler AT staff is led by Jeff Ward and focuses on helping to maintain an over-all well-being for their student-athletes.  While providing complete care for the CSUM student-athletes, they also assist and support visiting athletic teams to the Vallejo, Calif. campus.

UC Merced also was selected as the Cal Pac's Sports Information Department of the Year, marking its seventh distinction in the past 11 years.  Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator Andrew Mitchell, in his seventh year with the Bobcats, heads a team that promotes all 12 UCM athletics teams, oversees statistical and video operations, coordinates social media strategy, and develops creative content for the athletics website and social media platforms.  He also handles the play-by-play for the Bobcats' home broadcasts.  Additionally, Mitchell and his staff hosted five Cal Pac championship tournaments this year, not only coordinating practice times and accommodations for visiting teams but providing play-by-play coverage on livestream broadcasts in four of those tournaments. Mitchell also assists his Cal Pac peers as one of three conference SIDs on the Executive Council.