MARSHALL – Southwest Minnesota State University second-year head football coach Scott Underwood announced on Wednesday the hiring of Zac Cunha to the Mustang coaching staff for the upcoming 2023 season.

Cunha will join the staff as passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He takes over for Boyer Bouman, who left the program in May to work in the private sector.

Cunha comes to SMSU after spending the past two seasons as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Briar Cliff University. During his tenure at BCU, a total of five Charger players were named all-conference.

“We are extremely excited about having Zac join our program,” Underwood said. “His background in the conference and his offensive and recruiting experience is a strong match with our program philosophy at SMSU.”

Cunha is no stranger to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference as he played quarterback and was an assistant coach at Minot State University. He was a member of the Beaver football program for six seasons, playing in 46 games and passing for 8,222 yards with 52 touchdowns.

He played all but two games his first three seasons before suffering a season-ending injury in the 2015 season opener before having his 2016 season cut short due to injury after just two games. Cunha returned for a sixth-season in 2017, playing in all 11 games and closed his career as the program’s all-time leader in pass attempts, pass completions and passing yards, while ranking second all-time in career touchdown passes. He was named MSU’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2017-18.

Cunha began his coaching career in 2018 serving as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Roseville High School in Roseville, Calif. He returned to MSU in 2019 and spent two seasons serving as an offensive analyst along with coaching running backs.

Cunha, who earned his bachelor’s degree in education from MSU and also earned his master’s degree from MSU in sports management, has experience as a professional player with the Marburg Mercenaries in the German Football League and in The Spring League.

SMSU finished the 2022 season with a 4-7 record, which is the program’s highest win total since 2018. The Mustangs open fall camp on Aug. 7 in preparation for the 2023 season opener at Minot State on Aug. 31.