Cooper leaving USC for LSU

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by TigerBait3, Jan 5, 2009.

  1. TigerBait3

    TigerBait3 Guest

    - South Carolina has the most DB's in the NFL.

    Link
     
  2. Lprimo

    Lprimo Pimpin Aint Easy

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    WOOHOOO! Just what we needed, a real DB coach for our incoming talent. Things are looking up on the Coaching front. Good Job Miles!
     
  3. khounba

    khounba Founding Member

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    Great news. I read that LSU was supposed to announce something about the defensive coaches today sometime. I wonder if this was it, or if they will announce others too.
     
  4. Geaux4LSU

    Geaux4LSU Founding Member

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    great hire.
     
  5. JohnLSU

    JohnLSU Tigers

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    Wow. Great hire.

    Here is his resume based on the bio South Carolina wrote for him:

    --Early days: Cooper was the defensive coordinator at UNLV and Murray State. He worked as an assistant coach at East Carolina and Austin Peay and was a graduate assistant at Minnesota under Lou Holtz and also at Appalachian State.

    --1991-1992: Lou Holtz's DB coach at ND in 1991 and 1992, where he coached such defensive back standouts as Tom Carter, Jeff Burris, Bobby Taylor, Rod Smith, and Willie Clark - all of whom played in the National Football League.

    --1993-94: Head Coach of Eastern Michigan

    --1995-97: Head Coach of Louisville: his first Cardinal team in 1995 led the nation in turnovers forced, finished ninth nationally in scoring defense, 18th in total defense and 20th in rushing defense. His 1996 UL squad ranked fourth in the NCAA in both total and rushing defense. Cooper coached three All-Americas at Louisville, including defensive back Sam Madison, who stars with the Miami Dolphins; offensive tackle Roman Oben, who stars for the 2003 Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and linebacker Tyrus McCloud, who was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.

    --1998-01: Head Coach of Alabama A&M: Cooper helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2000 championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, with that team leading the nation in rushing defense and finishing eighth in total defense.

    --2002: secondary coach at Wisconsin: That year, the Badgers featured the Big Ten Conference's top two individual leaders in pass interceptions, including strong safety Jim Leonhard, who led the nation with 10 picks.

    --2003: defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Mississippi State

    --2004: hired by Lou Holtz to be his DB coach at South Carolina

    --2006: promoted to Assistant Head Coach by Steve Spurrier. Cooper did a solid job guiding the USC secondary after losing a pair of standouts in safety Ko Simpson and cornerback Johnathan Joseph in the first four rounds of the NFL draft. Despite playing a pair of true freshmen extensively, the Gamecocks ranked 43rd in the country in pass defense.

    --2007: the Gamecocks were ranked among the top five in the country in pass defense for most of the season, including several weeks at No. 1. He coached cornerback Captain Munnerlyn and safety Emanuel Cook to All-SEC recognition by the league's coaches in 2007.

    A sportswriter for South Carolina recruiting site calls Cooper an "ace talent evaluator."

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  6. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    This is a tremendous hire.

    If you had to single out the most successful area for USCe in the past several years in terms of development, it would be the DB position.

    He has recruiting ties to Georgia and the Carolinas and probably north Florida. He is also from Alabama, so maybe help out a little in that area as well.

    Tremendous, tremendous hire.

    Miles has hit a home run.

    Surprised a little they offered 300K, but not so much based on the hire.
     
  7. DRC

    DRC TigerNator

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    This sounds like a really good hire but man, look at the assistants pay scale these days. My how that is changing VERY quickly. I would think our staff salary has to be among the highest in the country. Tenn is also going to be huge.
     
  8. khounba

    khounba Founding Member

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    I would much rather be in LSU's situation though. CLM probably gets a big allowance for coaching staff due to his performance and loyalty to stay with LSU. UT is putting a whole bunch of money out for a HC who hasn't proven anything there yet. But yeah that's a lot of money. Guess that's why Tradition funds will be going up and up and up.
     
  9. TigerBait3

    TigerBait3 Guest

    Sounds like he isnt much of a recruiter but is phenomenal at spotting talent. Ill take it.
     
  10. JohnLSU

    JohnLSU Tigers

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    The Cooper to LSU thread at CockyTalk.com
    http://www.cockytalk.com/showthread.php?t=85884

    It's already up to 3 pages in less than 2 hours

    Some reactions from Cock Nation:

    Ouch.

    this sucks

    damn

    Noooo!!! He was my favorite asst. coach!

    Oh man this is a HUGE hit! Coach Cooper is probably the best secondary coach in the nation and has been a big reason for our success at that position in the past. I think something even bigger that we will lose is his ability to find talent where others can't. Look at all of the low rated players he has found that ended up being big time contributors. So far this year this has to be the worst news Gamecock football could have gotten.

    Went from $175/1 year contract here to $300k/yr and 3 yr contract at LSU. Can't blame him for that.

    this loss will hurt. Sad to see Ron Cooper go but happy that he is improving his income and position.

    Well that stinks.

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
    Damn, and the heartbreak continues.

    As soon as we get some good news, it always has to be countered with bad news.

    Can't blame him, that's a huge increase in salary and I'm sure we had the opportunity to match it. This is an illustration of exactly why we will have trouble consistently competing with the LSUs, the UGAs, the UFs, and the Alabama's of the world. Good luck coach Cooper, thanks for your time here

    wow...the hits just keep coming.

    I'm mostly worried about losing recruits. He was a great coach, but hopefully our commits decide to stay.

    This will hurt recruiting.

    I don't blame him at all for going, it almost DOUBLES his salary.

    This will really hurt our recruiting in Alabama.

    Right now i would take the equipment manager position at LSU over any position here. Pretty sure it would be a step-up.

    good luck to coach cooper, he's one heck of a coach.

    I hate to see Cooper leave. He is an outstanding coach and recruiter. I can't blame him for taking the pay increase, I'd do the same thing.
    Looking at UT and LSU, we need to get on board and start paying our coaches if we intend to keep them. I know the better coaching staffs get raided every year, but we need to be competitive hold on to our best coaches.


     

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