Texas Tech head coach Mark Adams has announced the hiring of Rick Cooper as the Red Raider Basketball program’s Chief of Staff.
Cooper arrives at Tech after working as the athletic director at Wayland Baptist University since 2014 following an illustrious coaching career where he earned 546 victories as the head coach at WBU and West Texas A&M. Cooper is the all-time winningest coach in both program’s histories, racking up a 152-47 record at WBU before going 394-195 leading WT. As an administrator at WBU, Cooper was named the 2017-18 Sooner Athletic Conference Athletics Director of the Year.
“I’m thrilled to be a piece of something special that coach Adams is putting together here,” said Cooper, who is in the WBU and WT Hall of Fame. “I’ve known Coach Adams for a long time and know that he is going to do a great job leading this program. I’m here to help him in the process. I’m a basketball junkie who has coached college basketball almost all of my life. This is a great opportunity for me and I can’t wait to help the entire staff as we continue building this program into one of the best in the nation.”
Adams added: “We have developed a lot of trust between each other over the years. We’ve worked together in the past and have a great friendship. He’s someone who understands how to build a great program and work with people. Rick is a great addition to our program because of his experience and ability to handle anything that comes his way.”
A Bridgeport, West Virginia native and Wayland Baptist graduate, Cooper began his career as an assistant at Idalou High School before returning to Plainview where he worked as an assistant for five years for Ron Mayberry and then Adams. With Adams leading the program and Cooper on staff, the Pioneers reached the NAIA national finals. He would take over the program in 1987 before moving to Canyon to take over the WT program in 1993.
Cooper would coach the Buffs for 20 seasons where he amassed the .693 winning percentage. WT would win four Lone Star Conference Championships under his leadership, advance to 10 NCAA National Tournaments and an Elite Eight appearance. He was selected as the LSC Coach of the Year six times, tabbed as the South Central Region Coach of the Year two times and was the 2011 Clarence Gaines National Division II Coach of the Year.
Before beginning his coaching career, Cooper played at Wayland Baptist where he would average 13.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. His playing career ended with him having scored 1,209 points which ranked 14th in program history at the time. Cooper earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree from WBU.
Cooper joins Adams’ staff along with associate head coach Barret Peery, assistants Corey Williams and Talvin Hester, strength & conditioning coach Darby Rich and Darryl Dora as the Director of Player Development. Advisor Sean Sutton was retained and remains in the role that he’s worked in the past four seasons. The Red Raiders have advanced to the NCAA Tournament three straight times for the first time in program history, including advancing to the 2018 Elite Eight and 2019 NCAA National Championship Final.
https://texastech.com/news/2021/5/12/mens-basketball-adams-adds-rick-cooper-to-red-raider-staff.aspx
