BIO
About Coach Cooper…
- Alma Mater: University of Montevallo
- Playing Experience: Played four seasons at the University of Montevallo
- Record: 164-244
- Entering 16th Season
Coaching experience…
- 2004-2007/ Seminole State College, Oklahoma, Recruiting Coordinator/Assistant Coach
- 2007-2010/ Mercer University, Recruiting Coordinator/Assistant Coach
More about Coach Cooper…
- 2024-25 was a break out season for Head Coach Cooper and the Pirates and is the 3rd most wins for Cooper in a season, trailing only his 2012 and 2011 years. This was the first appearance for the Pirates in the Heart Quarterfinals as well.
- Makayla Artis became Park women's basketball's leading career rebounder in 2024-25 with 933.
- Three Pirates were 2024-25 Heart All-Conference Emma Perry and Nadiyah Cooper on 2nd Team, and Artis with an Honorable Mention award.
- 11 wins in 2023-24 that was highlighted by two collegiate career 1,000 point scorers, Taylor Shelby and Angel Wiggins. The Pirates also earned a ranked win against No. 20 MidAmerica Nazarene. Three Pirates were Heart All-Conference.
- In the 2022-23 season, coach Cooper's squad had three Heart all-conference honorable mention student-athletes and two CSC Academic All-District honorees.
- Has coached three NAIA Division I All-Americans in his 13 seasons.
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- All-Time winningest women's basketball coach in Park history with 164 wins.
- In 15 seasons at Park, he has coached 102 Academic All-Conference players, six First-Team All-Conference players, four Second-Team All-Conference selection, 12 Honorable Mention All-Conference players, one AMC Newcomer of the Year, a conference Freshman of the Year and 36 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
- With a six game win-streak to start 2021-22, Cooper eventually received his 129th win to overtake Joe C. Meriweather as Park's winningest women's basketball coach on Dec. 4th via a CMU forfeit.
- Park saw its season-high four-game win streak halted in the AMC Tournament to eventual champion Columbia for the third consecutive year, ending the 2012-13 season at the hands of the Cougars. Brianna Beridon finished the year as the AMC's scoring champion and a First-Team All-Conference honoree averaging nearly 18 points per game for Coach Cooper.
- The 2011-12 campaign opened with one of the program's best starts posting a 10-1 record at the holiday break before advancing to the semifinals of the AMC Tournament.
- In his first season as head coach, 2010-11, Cooper led the Pirates to the third-most wins in a single season in program history posting an 18-11 overall record and 9-7 AMC mark. Park increased its win total by 13 during Cooper's first season after going 5-25 in 2009-10, marking the second greatest turnaround in NAIA Division I Women's basketball, one win shy of California Baptist's 14 wins.
- Prior to joining Park, Cooper spent three years as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division I Mercer University in Macon, Ga., from 2007-2010, and was instrumental in assisting head coach, Janell Jones, with reinvigorating the Bears' program.
- He was part of a staff that inherited a 5-25 team and endured a 4-26 record its first season at Mercer. In the 2008-09 season, the Bears went 17-14 and proved to be the greatest turnaround in the country that year, according to CollegeRPI.com, by making a 153 point swing (315 to 162) in the RPI. The team was picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic Sun Conference by both media and coaches pre-season polls but proved the experts wrong with a fourth-place showing before advancing to the A-Sun semifinals.
- Along with his duties as assistant coach at Mercer, Cooper excelled as the recruiting coordinator for the Bears. In three seasons, student-athletes recruited by Cooper earned a First-Team All A-Sun award, three Second-Team All-Conference honors, an A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, eight A-Sun Player of the Week awards, and 18 Academic All-Conference selections.
- As a part of Mercer's 2010-11 recruiting class, Cooper brought in three players that were ranked in the top 50 by ESPN in the southeast region.
- Cooper previously spent three seasons as an assistant at Seminole State College, helping the team reach the Bi-State Conference Tournament each year during his tenure. Seminole State also finished third at the 2007 NJCAA Region II Tournament. The Belles' compiled a 51-40 (.560) record during his three-year stint as an assistant coach.
- Cooper played collegiately at the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Ala. After redshirting his freshman year, he helped the Falcons win a Gulf South Conference Tournament title during his senior season when he served as team captain. Montevallo also reached the NCAA Division II South Regional finals as the Falcons finished with a 23-10 record in 2004. Cooper received the University of Montevallo Sportsmanship Award in 2004.
- A native of Fayetteville, Ga., Cooper started at Fayette County High School before his collegiate playing career at Montevallo. At Fayette County, he served as team captain his junior and senior seasons while earning four varsity letters.
- Cooper graduated from Montevallo in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology. Cooper, his wife Erin, and their twin daughters reside in Kansas City, Mo.
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