Looking at things through a different lens has helped make Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham a risin

While driving his son to school every morning, the father didn’t listen to music, or news or sports.

Louis Cunningham and his son, Ian Cunningham, listened to cassette tapes of motivational and inspirational speakers — Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy or Les Brown.

Louis wanted to open his son’s mind.

Advertisement

About 25 years later, it’s clear that he did.

In 2020, Ian was named to The Athletic’s NFL 40 Under 40 as one of the league’s rising stars. In February, at 36, he became one of the highest-ranking African Americans in an NFL front office when he was hired as assistant general manager of the Bears.

After nine years with the Ravens and five with the Eagles, Cunningham is where he is partly because he has found ways to gain edges in unconventional places — on Amazon or Apple TV+, for instance.

“He’s able to look outside as a way of spurring ideas and looking at things from a different lens,” said Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, who, along with former team GM Ozzie Newsome, gave Ian his first NFL job. “That can be very helpful in a sport like ours when so much of what we do has been ingrained in us by the way things have been done for so long.”

Cunningham can be understood by the books, movies and documentaries he values.

‘Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike’

Louis was an agent for ProServ and helped represent NBA superstars, including Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. At other times in his career, he was the athletic director for Alabama A&M and the vice president of marketing for the 1996 Olympics. A single parent, he enjoyed introducing his only child to athletes. One was distance runner Steve Prefontaine.

A section of “Shoe Dog” is about the relationship between Nike and Prefontaine, who is known for saying, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” Ian loves that quote, and he loves how “Shoe Dog” made him think about resilience and commitment to values.

The book reinforced a lesson Ian learned as a freshman at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas. His father watched him struggle in his first practice of two-a-days. Ian clearly had the size and athleticism to compete as an offensive lineman, but he wasn’t giving all of himself. His father told him if he didn’t improve, he should quit the sport. In the subsequent practice, Ian practiced so hard and so well, it nearly brought Louis to tears.

Advertisement

As he matured, Ian learned to embrace challenges rather than retreat from them. At Virginia, he made sure to line up against future first-round pick Chris Long whenever he could because Long was the best, and he knew going against the best would make him better.

He did not sacrifice the gift.

‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’

The pursuit of perfection is evident in massaging an octopus for 50 minutes to make it tender, as it is in hitting the rewind button 30 times to evaluate an athletic skill. In the documentary, Jiro, the world’s greatest sushi chef, dreams of making the perfect nigiri. At Halas Hall, Cunningham dreams of championships.

He knows what championships look like, having been part of Super Bowl-winning teams with the Ravens and Eagles.

When he was finishing his college career, Cunningham hoped he’d be playing for an NFL team today, not helping run one. After starting 31 games as an offensive tackle at Virginia, he was stunned to go undrafted. He signed with the Chiefs as a free agent but didn’t make it to training camp.

Shortly after being released, Cunningham called his college coach, Al Groh, and asked if he knew of anyone who would consider him for an NFL scouting job. Within 24 hours, Cunningham was connected with Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, Browns general manager Phil Savage and Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

With the Ravens, Cunningham wanted to know everything Newsome and DeCosta knew. He asked questions incessantly, the way a 3-year-old does, to the point where Cunningham was self-conscious.

“He’d work and work and work and work to get the answer,” Decosta said.

Cunningham said Newsome and DeCosta — and the answers they gave him — are why he is where he is.

After Baltimore, he became the Eagles’ director of college scouting, then their assistant director of player personnel, and finally their director of player personnel. His habits never changed.

Advertisement

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said Cunningham always wanted to know why a decision was made. “Very inquisitive,” Roseman said.

All in the pursuit of perfection.

‘Betaball: How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History’

The book details how the Golden State Warriors became champions by thinking more like a tech company from Silicon Valley than an NBA team.

Cunningham brings innovation and cross-collaboration to team-building processes that have decades-old roots. With the Ravens and Eagles, Cunningham was exposed to scouting systems that blended the traditional with cutting edge. And he embraces all of it.

The foundation of evaluation, for him, is the tape and the “sense” of the scout. And then he looks at data from analytics to filter the assessments and protect against blind spots.

“It’s trying to keep it as simple as possible and then blend in the data we’re getting with GPS, or analytics, numbers, trying to fill in the gaps where we can’t see,” Cunningham said. “It can also make us ask questions and do more homework if it doesn’t confirm what our eyes tell us.”

With Cunningham in the building, there will be fewer easy answers.

“He’s a guy who I thought made me better in my job because he would challenge me and my thoughts and my perspective in a productive way,” Roseman said. “He was always thinking about ways to make things better, whether it was for our scouts, the grading scale, or the draft process overall. He would always say, ‘Hey, what about this?’ I always respected that.”

‘The Four Agreements: A Practice Guide to Personal Freedom’

As detailed in the book by author Miguel Ruiz, the Four Agreements are:

• Be impeccable with your word
• Don’t take anything personally
• Don’t make assumptions
• Always do your best

Cunningham reads the book twice a year to stay centered. “I feel you have to come at it from a point of view of empathy and understanding,” he said.

Advertisement

It is his responsibility, the way he sees it, to do anything Bears general manager Ryan Poles needs him to do.

“Offensive linemen at heart are selfless people,” he said. “Having Ryan as (a former) offensive lineman, we’re alike. Wherever I can help him.”

Poles and Cunningham can excel at combination blocks, front-office style. To Cunningham, they have lived parallel lives.

Cunningham first became aware of Poles when they were being recruited by the same schools. Poles heard Cunningham’s name for the first time when he was trying to get his first scouting job at the combine in 2009 and had an interview with the Ravens. He walked into a room with DeCosta, who looked at him and started chuckling. When Poles asked what was funny, DeCosta said, “Have you ever heard of Ian Cunningham? You guys look alike.”

A few years later, Cunningham and Poles met on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, where both were scouting. They clicked immediately and started having dinners or beers together whenever they were in the same cities. They talked for hours, debating about current players and former players, going through “who would you rather have?” scenarios, challenging one another on how they would handle a specific type of conduct breach, or asking how the other was managing to balance work and family.

“We tried,” Poles said, “to better each other.”

When Poles made a campus visit to Ohio State, he was asked, “Weren’t you just here last week?” He had not been, but he suspected who was. He texted Cunningham and asked if he was at the school the previous week. “Yeah,” came the reply. “How did you know?”

They not only look alike, they think alike, too. They both embrace open debate and welcome different opinions. Poles encourages Cunningham to question him.

It has happened already, in a free-agency meeting with other team personnel people. Poles said he was looking at opportunities with a narrow vision.

Advertisement

“I don’t want to be too specific, but it was like, would you rather pay one receiver one lump sum, or have two receivers that better your team?” said Poles, who apparently decided against paying one receiver big money. “Or do you go with a guy that has versatility or no versatility? Wait, this guy can do his job and another job. Should we consider that? In free agency, we’re trying to be disciplined in how we spend money and cap space, so it’s negotiating which player to choose.”

Poles didn’t just hire Cunningham. He moved in with him. They rent a house together in Lake Bluff while their wives and children prepare to move to the Chicago area. They drive 20 minutes to and from work together, doing “post-operative reviews” and coming up with to-do lists.

Their goal is to operate with the Four Agreements in mind.

‘Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance’

The Angela Duckworth book examines how factors other than talent can lead to achievement. Cunningham applies the philosophy to player evaluations, giving credence to persistence, passion, consistency and discipline.

Cunningham was a psychology major in college because he found human behavior fascinating.

“I was always interested in people, getting to know them and why they did certain things,” said Cunningham, who earned his undergraduate degree in three and a half years and then obtained a master’s in education. “Blending that with the athletic ability is what drew me to personnel more than coaching. … You are truly trying to get to know people and the player.”

Poles said Cunningham leans toward the types of players the Ravens are known for acquiring — passionate players who want to be great and play with chips on their shoulders.

“They have to have the right makeup for the game, and that always sticks out to us,” Poles said. “You want the guys you acquire, especially at the top of the draft or in free agency, to reflect the culture you are trying to build.”

Advertisement

Before last year’s draft, Poles and Cunningham had several conversations about how both were drawn to Alabama offensive lineman Landon Dickerson in part because of his intangibles. He was a warrior, a leader, a tone-setter, and he played with an element of nastiness.

Cunningham’s Eagles chose him in the second round.

‘Greyhound’

Cunningham wants the Bears’ scouting staff to watch this Tom Hanks movie about a Navy commander on a destroyer escorting a merchant ship convoy that comes under attack by German submarines in World War II. The film illustrates how success is difficult to achieve without contributions from every level of the chain of command. After one successful attack on the enemy, the commander says, “This was an all-hands job.”

When a team hits on a long-shot player, it’s almost always a reflection of “an all-hands job.” That was the case when the Ravens signed defensive tackle Michael Pierce as an undrafted free agent in 2016, and it was the case when the Eagles signed linebacker T.J. Edwards as an undrafted free agent three years ago.

Cunningham felt strongly about both players and pushed his teams to sign them. He influenced others to get on board.

Pierce was not highly regarded, mostly because he had a history of injury and was a durability risk. Cunningham saw traits that he thought were worthwhile. Pierce became a starter in his second season and recently signed a three-year contract with the team worth $16.5 million.

Other teams backed away from Edwards after he ran a 4.87 40-yard dash at his pro day. Cunningham paid more attention to the tape.

“He played like he ran a 4.5 because of his instincts,” Cunningham said. “He had (367) tackles at Wisconsin, 10 career interceptions and was a two-time captain. You knew he was going to get consistently better because of how he was wired.”

Advertisement

For the past two seasons, Edwards has been a starter in Philadelphia. He had the second-most tackles on the team in 2021.

When Bears scouts watch “Greyhound,” Cunningham wants them to watch it together.

‘Days of Grace: A Memoir’

For Cunningham, this book is personal.

It was written by his second cousin Arthur Ashe, the tennis champion and crusader for social justice and AIDS research who died of AIDS-related pneumonia at 49.

When Cunningham read the book two years ago, he was taken aback to hear his father’s voice in Ashe’s words.

Louis considered Ashe the equivalent of an older brother as well as his best friend. And as Ashe rose in the tennis world, Louis started to see him as a role model.

“I grew up in a little hamlet in Bedford, Va.,” Louis said. “There’s no way an African American kid, a Black kid from the South, would think he could get out of that back in the ’60s. But for Arthur, I saw what the possibilities were. I always dreamt big, and I encouraged Ian to dream big. Put it out there and figure out a way to get there.”

While doing business in his office on the phone, Louis often had his son sit with him and listen so Ian learned how deals were done. When Louis was introduced as the athletic director at Alabama A&M, he had Ian by his side so Ian could experience the feeling of standing behind a lectern and being the focal point of attention.

On many evenings, Ian and Louis played Madden on Xbox. During one game when Ian was 8 or 9, he turned to his father.

Ian: “You know what, Dad? I think I can be an NFL GM.”

Louis: “Or an owner.”

Louis and Ashe discussed worthwhile books and articles. Through Ashe’s relationship with anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, Louis was chosen to promote Mandela’s first visit to the United States in 1990.

“I would not have understood the world globally if not for Arthur,” Louis said. “And that’s where Ian gets a much broader picture and has a better understanding of his place in the world and how he can be influential.”

Advertisement

Ashe died when Ian was 7 years old, before Ian could grasp his impact. But he saw how revered he was at his funeral in Richmond, Va. With Louis serving as a pallbearer with Yannick Noah and others, Ian walked behind a procession on Monument Avenue, with thousands lining the street. He heard Ashe described as a combination of Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall at the service in the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center, not far from where Ashe, as a child, was told he couldn’t play tennis with Whites.

“I would have never been where I was, nor would Ian be where he is, if not for Arthur,” Louis said.

Ashe set a high bar. Ian isn’t trying to be the next Arthur Ashe, but he’s trying to be the best version of himself, which means staying true to his values and carrying himself with integrity, respect and discipline, all while maintaining a worldview.

He is aware of the responsibility of being a 36-year-old African American assistant general manager for the Chicago Bears.

Ian’s full name is Ian-Yates Cunningham. His father chose Yates because it has a special meaning.

Said Ian, “Yates means he who opens gates.”

(Top photo of Ian Cunningham, right, with Ryan Poles: Chicago Bears)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kmpwcnBobnxzfJFrZmlrX2d%2FcLjOqKKippdirrV506Ggp5%2BjYsGpvs6unqFlkWKxqrLFnqmepqRiuaa60mafmqtdnbKtvMSdZKaZm5p6o7HAq6pmmaOotrTAwKerZp%2BdYraiuoycrKemmaO0qa3MZphmqpmotq%2BzjKedpWWjqa6zew%3D%3D