Audrey Brink, Asst. Sports Editor
Before joining Denison University’s campus safety team, Doug Cunningham spent 28 years working at The Ohio State University, where he had a front row seat to multiple national championships.
A Granville resident for the past 30 years, Cunningham began his position as a community service officer at Denison this past June. He maintains the typical responsibilities of a campus safety officer, but sees his position as extending way beyond just responding to safety incidents.
“The title is a big part of what we do,” Cunningham said. “Serve the community.”
Community service officers have typical responsibilities such as assisting students, faculty, and staff with building lockouts, medical transports, vehicle jumpstarts, and incident reports. They also keep a daily crime log and provide support at Denison’s sporting events.
However, some of Cunningham’s favorite responsibilities are the opportunities to interact with students outside of emergency situations. Through events like campus safety cookouts, community service officers are able to spend time with students.
“It’s just a good way to interact,” Cunningham said. “When a student is locked out of their dorm, they’re usually in a hurry. So events are a good time to get to know everybody and spend some social time together.”
For Cunningham, the sense of community is the biggest difference between Denison and Ohio State.
“Working here is like working for a large family business, everybody is pretty close and working towards the same goal,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham spent nearly three decades working at Ohio State. He began his career in June 1998 after attending the police academy. Initially, he had a lifelong interest in police work, but had not considered working at a university. Upon meeting an Ohio State police officer, he was encouraged to apply.
During his career, Cunningham worked as a patrol officer, was a part of the motorcycle unit, and eventually transitioned into the Detective Bureau where he spent the final decade of his career in criminal investigations.
He also became a part of Ohio State’s executive protection detail. This is a specialized unit responsible for providing security for university personnel, celebrities, and other notable visitors. Beginning around 2008, Cunningham began providing security for the football and basketball program, working with coaches such as Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, and Ryan Day.
The position offered him a unique perspective on college athletics. In addition to protecting coaches and referees, Cunningham traveled with the teams and became involved with parts of the game that fans never see.
“The most enjoyable part for me was the things that didn’t happen on gameday or on the field,” Cunningham said. “It was the relationships that you built through the everyday part of it.”
Traveling with the team allowed Cunningham to create more personal relationships with the players. He was able to understand more about their personal lives and help them navigate different challenges. Whether they were dealing with a traffic accident or a relationship problem, he was a mentor.
Cunningham also witnessed the pressure that comes with being a part of one of the country’s most successful athletic programs. With over 100,000 fans in Ohio Stadium, the program, coaches, and players constantly find themselves under public scrutiny.
Working alongside coaches, Cunningham came to understand that athletics can teach lessons that extend far beyond the field.
“Coach Day would really be teaching football in life skills. The application is more about building character and strength,” Cunningham said.
While winning championships and traveling to bowl games was exciting, Cunningham said that losses often provided more room for growth.
“Sometime’s theres more lessons to be learned in a loss than there is in a win,” he said.
After retiring from Ohio State in May 2026, Cunningham began to look towards the future of his career. Although it can be hard to step away from a career that you have had for 28 years, Cunningham sees it as an honor to be able to retire and walk away.
“There are a lot of people who are not fortunate enough to walk away from a profession that could kill you,” Cunningham said.
Now, at Denison he has found a new environment that is significantly different from what he was used to.
Having lived in Granville for some time, Cunningham already knew many of the people working at Denison. Still, he has noticed a difference in the way departments interact.
At Ohio State, the police department was operated outside of Student Life. At Denison, Campus Safety is integrated into the broader student experience, allowing officers to interact with students and faculty more regularly.
Cunningham has an appreciation for this distinction, describing Campus Safety as a part of the University’s efforts to help students succeed.
“I think that’s exactly how it should be,” Cunningham said.