After spending two seasons as the coordinator of video and digital content, former Colonel Mason Cooper will now serve in the role of director of operations for the EKU men’s basketball team.
“Mason’s tireless work ethic and willingness to help our student-athletes be successful both on and off the court made the decision to promote him to director of basketball operations an easy one,” Head Coach A.W. Hamilton said. “As a former EKU player, his promotion shows how serious we are about taking care of our guys. Mason has represented the program in a first-class manner.”
This past season, the Colonels broke records for 3-pointers in a game (25), 3-pointers attempted in a game (51), 3-pointers made (363) and attempted (1,029) in a season, and 3-point field goals in a road game (18) this past season. For the second straight season, Eastern Kentucky led its conference in scoring, averaging 79 points per game. The Colonels were the 16th highest scoring team in the nation in 2021-22. EKU also ranked second in the country in turnover margin (+5.84), third in 3-pointers per game (11.71), fourth in steals per game (10.19) and seventh in turnovers forced (17.42).
In his first season on staff, Cooper aided a program that had a 22-7 record, featured the most conference wins in program history (15) and the most conference road victories (8) ever. EKU set a new program record for 3-pointers in a game (20) and led the nations in steals (10.3 per game). The team was ranked as high as No. 12 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and concluded the season ranked 25th.
Cooper graduated from EKU in only three years, earning a degree in sport management in the spring of 2020. He completed a master’s degree in sport administration from EKU in the spring of 2021.
The Fairfield, Maine native was a standout at Lawrence High School. A three-year varsity starter, Cooper was selected as the KVAC Player of the Year, Morning Sentinel Player of the Year and Bangor Daily News Second Team All-State his senior year.
EKU’s 2022 recruiting class was ranked as high as 65th in the country by 247Sports and includes the program’s first-ever ESPN four-star freshman recruit, a former four-star high school prospect, a three-star point guard, a three-star center, a junior college All-American, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and the 35th ranked JUCO player in the nation.
