Ayad Bunni began as a volunteer for Academy of Art men's basketball in September 2023.
With the 2023-24 season closed out after earning a Pacific West Conference Regular Season Championship title for the first time in school history as they tied the most wins the squad has recorded in the regular season (20), Bunni once again helped his team set numerous new program records as the team delivered the highest scoring average in the program's history with 80.4 points per contest. On the defensive end, the squad also broke the all-time record in steals average for the program as well, collecting 10.7 steals per game, while also blocking the second-most total shots (3.3). Over the course of the season, four ART U players put together a total of seven PacWest weekly awards, while three members would go on to earn All-PacWest team selections, two of which being First Team. In addition, Bunni assisted coaching Latrell Williams in a career-season, as he was the first PacWest player to earn both
Player of the Year and Defender of the Year in the same season, all while Jamal Fuller earned an additional second team selection to both the
NABC All-West Region and D2CCA All-West Region teams after leading the conference in points per game.
Making his return to coaching after an extended layoff, Bunni was previously an assistant for Mike Legarza from 1995-96 at Cañada College in Redwood City. Following Cañada, Bunni served as an undergraduate assistant for legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian at Fresno State from 1996-98 where he was responsible for player development and worked with several professional overseas and NBA players. He also spent some time at Pepperdine University working in the same player development role for a number of collegiate and professional players.
Following his time at Fresno State and Pepperdine, Bunni shifted his path to a corporate career that included roles in technology, vice president of business development, director of strategic alliances, and vice president of lending. During his 25-year career, he has worked for Fortune 100 companies such as Oracle Corporation, Washington Mutual, Bank of America, and Bank of the West.
Bunni earned his bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Fresno State.
