Cooper Joins Football Staff
February 01, 2002 | Football
Ron Cooper, the head football coach at Alabama A&M for the past four seasons, has joined the Wisconsin football staff as an assistant coach.
'I'm really looking forward to adding Ron to our staff,' Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said. 'He has had proven results throughout his career. Our players will definitely benefit from his experience.'
Cooper took over as head coach at Alabama A&M in 1998 and guided that team into the Division I-AA ranks (from its Division II status previously). He took the Bulldogs to the Eastern Division championship of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in his third season. That 2000 club led the nation in rushing defense (39.7 ypg) and finished eighth in total defense (275.0 ypg). His four-year record at Alabama A&M was 22-23.
Prior to his stint at Alabama A&M, Cooper was head coach at Louisville from 1995-97. He directed the Cardinals to a 7-4 mark in his first year. Louisville forced more turnovers than any team in the country in '95 and finished ninth nationally in scoring defense, 18th in total defense and 20th in rushing defense. Louisville was 5-6 the following season, but ranked No. 4 nationally in both total and rushing defense. In Cooper's three seasons at Louisville, the school had three all-Americans, two all-conference choices and a third-round NFL draft choice. His three-year mark at Louisville was 13-20.
Cooper's first head coaching position came at Eastern Michigan (1993-94) where he spent two seasons guiding that school to a 9-13 mark after it had won five total games in the three seasons prior to his arrival.
Before his move to Eastern Michigan, Cooper was: linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Austin Peay (1985-86); defensive coordinator at Murray State (1987-88); linebackers coach at East Carolina (1989), defensive coordinator at UNLV (1990) and assistant head coach and secondary coach under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame (1991-92). Cooper helped coach the Irish's 1992 Sugar Bowl and 1993 Cotton Bowl champions. Among his standout players at Notre Dame were defensive backs Tom Carter, Jeff Burris, Bobby Taylor, Rod Smith and Willie Clark, all of whom went on to play in the NFL.
His coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Minnesota in 1984 (UW quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton was also a G.A. with the Golden Gophers that year and UW offensive line coach Jim Hueber was in his first season as an assistant coach at Minnesota).
Cooper played collegiately at Jacksonville State where he led his club into the NCAA Division II playoffs three times. He earned a B.S. degree in biology and physical education. He also has his M.A. degree in Athletic Administration from Appalachian State (1985). Cooper and his wife, Djuna, have a son (Tristan) and a daughter (Tyler).
