12 to Watch in 2012: Ed Cooley
Friday, December 30, 2011
Local boy makes good, comes home: Ed Cooley
Cooley, never one to shirk a challenge, set the bar high in his introductory press conference back in March when he acknowledged that he had to "win and win big." No doubt.
Cooley's hometown start makes his return--and the expectations--somehow even higher. Born and raised in Providence, Cooley was named Rhode Island High School Player of the Year while playing at Central High School in the late 80’s. It doesn't get more local than that and everyone wants a Cinderella story.
He went on to play at Stonehill College from 1990-1994 before becoming an assistant coach at UMass-Dartmouth in the fall of ’94. From there he spent a year at Stonehill as an assistant before landing at URI with Al Skinner from 1996-1997. Cooley then went to BC with Skinner from 1997-2006 before landing the Fairfield job in 2006, which is where he was when PC made the grab to fill Keno Davis' shoes.
At Fairfield, Cooley has built a program that has enjoyed tremendous success over the past two seasons in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Stags won the MAAC regular season title last year but were upset in their conference tournament by St. Peter’s.
Last year, Cooley won the inaugural 2010 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award presented to the top minority men’s basketball coach in the nation each year.
With the Friars back in action to take on Georgetown in the afternoon Saturday of New Year's Eve, the season picks up steam into 2012. Let's see how much magic Cooley's got in him.
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Comments:
frank bentley
8:32am on Friday, December 30, 2011
watch out Angel...next on Ed's list!!!
Buz Barton
12:30pm on Sunday, January 01, 2012
I hope Ed can turn this around. There are many conference games left to play, and the last few seasons have not proved successful for the Friars. With Ed Cooley's leadership, there has been considerable hope that this will be a turn-around season. Let's hope so. We have some good players on this team. I don't know what the problem is, but I am sure the coach and his team have a grasp of things (I was encouraged that the defeat by Georgetown was not as staggering as the one by St. John's). Go Friars ! ! !
Buz Barton