Tech Sideline Announces David Cunningham as New Managing Editor

Tech Sideline is pleased to announce that David Cunningham will be joining our staff on August 1st as our new Managing Editor.

David will be responsible for a multitude of duties, including planning Tech Sideline’s content and coverage strategies, editing and posting most of our content, and serving as the liaison between Tech Sideline and the Virginia Tech Sports Media & Analytics program, where he will recruit, mentor and help develop student writing talent to assist in Tech Sideline’s coverage of Virginia Tech Athletics.

David will also serve a large role as a writer for Tech Sideline, primarily for football, men’s basketball, and features. You can also expect to see and hear David on the TSL Podcast. In short, he will impact nearly every area of our content operation.

“I’m stoked for this opportunity,” David wrote on his personal blog. “I’ve practically been reading Tech Sideline since I came out of the womb in 1999. I’ll be managing all written content on the site … so I’ll be in my element. I’m so excited, and very grateful, to have a great chance to succeed with an organization that believes in me right out of school.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue to travel to intriguing road venues, cover games in Cassell Coliseum and Lane Stadium and tell the stories of current and former student-athletes, coaches and staff. I guarantee you’ll find me in the press box in the near future.”

David is a 2021 graduate of the Sports Media & Analytics (SMA) Program at Virginia Tech, where he also minored in Business Leadership. David learned the crafts of sportswriting and broadcasting under former long-time Virginia Tech play-by-play announcer Bill Roth, who launched the SMA program in 2016.

“David has been a game-changer for our SMA program, and he will be a game-changer for Tech Sideline,” Roth says. “He brings great passion, energy, and journalistic skills to the table, and a contagious enthusiasm for the craft. I think there’s not another student in America graduating this spring who is more engaged with Virginia Tech and ACC coaches and athletes than David.”

A Yorktown, Va. native, David grew up a Hokie, thanks to both of his parents being Virginia Tech alumni. According to David, his first Hokie memory is from when his parents took him to the 1999 National Championship between Virginia Tech and Florida State in New Orleans as a six-month-old.

As a student, David was instrumental in the creation of 3304 Sports, the hub for student sports journalism at Virginia Tech, and he established the group’s website as a junior. As Editor-in-Chief for two years, he edited and published over 400 stories while overseeing more than 15 beat writers for every sport at Virginia Tech. He also covered Virginia Tech for external organizations, including The Tech Lunch Pail and The Key Play.

“David has been influential in the rising success of the Sports Media & Analytics major at Virginia Tech,” added Tech Sideline podcast host and fellow 2021 SMA graduate Evan Hughes, who was also a key figure in the launch of 3304 Sports. “David created the 3304 Sports website and became our Editor-in-Chief, where he oversaw hundreds of published articles and gave feedback on each article and edited each one. David has shown his versatility as well, serving as the Sports Director of WUVT, working on the production team at the ACC Network, and growing his personal Twitter feed to over 4,500 followers.”

David is a fantastic, no-fluff follow on Twitter, where he stays on top of Virginia Tech sports news seemingly 24 hours a day. Here’s a link to his Twitter profile, where you can follow him.

Chris Coleman, who previously held the title of Managing Editor, will of course remain with us and will continue as our lead columnist and subscription content manager. The addition of David to our staff will free up Chris Coleman and TSL Founder and General Manager Will Stewart to better execute their duties and to continue to improve Tech Sideline and position it to better serve its audience and sponsors.

David will bring energy and passion to our operation and will be essential in helping us grow and evolve our coverage for the modern media landscape. Please give him a warm welcome here and on Twitter.