University of California, Merced

David Dunham is a founding staff member of the University of California, Merced and is currently in his 20th year as the Executive Director, Recreation and Athletics.

Dunham is responsible for starting intercollegiate athletics in 2011 and has led the Bobcats to impressive success athletically and academically. Under Dunham's guidance, the UC Merced Athletics department is currently transitioning to NCAA Division II and will play a CCAA conference schedule beginning in the fall of 2025. 

He has also been responsible for growing UC Merced's athletic facilities and has opened Bobcat Field, the Aquatic Center, the Recreation Field, and the Health and Athletic Center all since 2018.

Prior to the Bobcats NCAA era, Dunham's program flourished in the California Pacific Conference and the NAIA. In 2024-25, UC Merced became the first school in the NAIA to qualify its men's and women's basketball teams, men's and women's cross country teams, men's and women's soccer teams, and men's and women's volleyball teams for the NAIA National Championships in the same athletics year.

Under Dunham, UC Merced won 33 California Pacific Conference Championships. Every NAIA sponsored team has played in the national tournament highlighted by Quarterfinal and Round of 16 runs by UC Merced women's and men's soccer, respectively. 

In the summer of 2025, Dunham was named the California Pacific Conference Athletic Director of the Year. It marks the second straight year that Dunham has won the award and the third time in the last four years. Overall, Dunham is a five-time winner of the award which is the most in Cal Pac history.

Under his watch, UC Merced started with men’s and women’s cross country, men’s basketball and women’s volleyball in 2011. Dunham paved way for two more sports in each of the next two years, bringing the athletics program to eight teams by the 2013-14 academic year. On June 9, 2022, Dunham introduced men's and women's water polo and men's and women's outdoor track as intercollegiate varsity sports. 

Shortly after growing the number of athletic teams, Dunham saw the women’s basketball program claim UC Merced's first California Pacific Conference Tournament Championship and they would go on to accomplish that feat three years in a row (2015, 2016, 2017). Women's basketball was also Cal Pac regular-season champions and swept the conference slate (8-0) in the 2015-16 season. In 2017, the athletic program took another giant step in the right direction when all seven fall and winter sports team competed in the conference championship game.

Arguably one of Dunham’s biggest accomplishments throughout his tenure is leading the Bobcats through the COVID-19 pandemic and successfully incorporating a return to play plan. After 342 days on pause from competition, men’s and women’s cross country restarted UC Merced Athletics with a meet on February 13, 2021. Freshman Elizette Ysais earned a first-place finish setting the tone for what was to come for UC Merced Athletics the rest of the season. Head-to-head sports combined to go 37-6 in the shortened regular-season and all eligible teams qualified for the postseason. The success didn’t stop there. Women’s volleyball and men’s soccer won the California Pacific Conference Tournament Championship and earned an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships Opening Round, while men’s basketball captured their first postseason hardware with a win in the Cal Pac Phase Two Tournament Championship game. Cross country sent a program-eight runners to the national meet.  In addition, across the entire athletic department, a record-setting number of Bobcats earned California Pacific Conference Weekly and Postseason awards.

After a year with no spectators, Dunham went right to work to coordinate the return of fans to sporting events and saw capacity crowds in the 2021-22 academic year. The Bobcats success continued and Dunham saw both men's soccer and women's basketball win Cal Pac Tournament Championships. Three more teams were runner-ups and as a whole, all eight intercollegiate athletic teams competed in their respective conference championship events. Other highlights, among many, include men's volleyball appearing in the national rankings and women's basketball going 10-0 in Cal Pac play. 

Also across the last two academic years, the UC Merced Athletic Department achieved unparralled success in the classroom. In the Fall of 2020, student athletes combined to achieve a 3.28 grade-point average, the highest GPA on record. All eight programs positively contributed to the department record as each team ended the semester with a 3.0 or higher. In 2021-22, the cumulative GPA through the end of the year for all UC Merced student athletes was 3.192, the department's highest cumulative GPA to date. A record number of student athletes also earned academic accolades throughout the last couple of years, including CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes, Cal Pac All-Academic Team members, to name a few. 

UC Merced Athletics in 2019-20 was highlighted by the men's soccer team winning its second straight regular-season Cal Pac Championship, a pair of National Tournament games and advancing to the NAIA National Championship Final Site. The Opening Round win over Menlo College marked the first national tournament win in school history. Men's soccer made history once again when they achieved a #17 ranking in the Postseason Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the highest any UC Merced team had been ranked at the time. Other notables include UC Merced's women's soccer and women's volleyball teams advancing to the Cal Pac Championship game, as well as women's volleyball earning their first ever Top 25 win. Additionally, four Bobcats earned All-American status and Dunham named long-time assistant coach Vicente Velarde the head coach of the UC Merced men's and women's cross country. Men's basketball (18-10), men's soccer (16-4-2) and women's volleyball (16-12) set program single-season win records.

In 2018-19, UC Merced Athletics earned countless accolades and saw two teams advance to the NAIA National Championships (men's soccer, men's cross country). Both basketball programs set a new single-season wins record, while women's volleyball saw their first ever student athlete earn All-American status. Men's volleyball once again dethroned multiple nationally ranked teams. Women's soccer advanced to their second straight California Pacific Conference Championship game and women's cross country had a program-record three runners qualify for the NAIA National Championships.

The most familiar face in the athletic department has also helped grow the facilities on campus, such as the Student Activities and Athletics Center (SAAC), Bobcat Field, Aquatics Center among others. Dunham worked tirelessly with Charles Nies, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, on several Recreation and Athletics facilities within the Merced 2020 project. The completed project was the largest P3 social infrastructure project in U.S. history.

In addition, Dunham's coaching staff has garnered numerous Cal Pac Coach of the Year awards. Head men's soccer coach Albert Martins is a 4X award-winner, while head women's basketball coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery and head men's volleyball coach Ai Prachumsri have each been recognized for spectacular years.

Dunham joined UC Merced after spending seven years as the Associate Director of Club Sports at UC Davis.

UC Davis was his first stop after completing his education in his home state of Texas. Dunham earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Sports Management from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and a Master’s in Physical Education with an emphasis in Higher Education from Texas State University in 1998.

Along with his position here, Dunham serves in many other leadership roles, including as the California Pacific Conference Representative for the National Administrative Council and is on the NAIA Women’s Soccer Selection Committee. In those roles, his duties range from approving postseason qualifications to hearing appeals for probations and sport rules.

When he is not working in an administration role, you can find Dunham officiating collegiate lacrosse, working on his house or embarking on an outdoor adventure. Dunham, an International Rated Lacrosse Official, has officiated the sport for 21 years and has gone as far as Gilford, England, to officiate the Federation of International Lacrosse Senior World Cup in 2017.

Dunham is originally from Austin, Texas, and currently resides in Merced with his wife Kristie and their cats.