Ed Cooley

Ed Cooley (born September 10, 1969) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the Providence College Friars men's basketball team. Previously, Cooley had held the same position at Fairfield University from 2006–2011. He received the inaugural 2010 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award, presented annually to the top minority men's college basketball coach in the nation.^[1]

Early years

Cooley was born on September 10, 1969 in Providence, Rhode Island to Jane Cooley and Edward Smith.^[2] He was one of nine children in a family on welfare, living in the low-income South Providence neighborhood.^[3] However, he would later be taken in by neighbors Gloria and Eddie Searight, who provided Cooley with meals and a place to sleep.^[2]

At Providence's Central High School, Cooley played basketball and twice earned Rhode Island Player of the Year honors. After graduating in 1988, Cooley attended the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire for a post-graduate year in 1988–1989. Matriculating to Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, Cooley was required to take the SATs four times before the NCAA allowed him to play basketball there. He did not score high enough on his first two attempts, scored a 900 but was accused of cheating on his third test, and finally scored a 1390 on his fourth, supervised test.^[3]

Cooley was a three-year team captain at Stonehill, and was named to the Northeast-10 Conference academic honor roll. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in history from Stonehill in 1994.

Coaching career

Following college, Cooley taught history at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School in Massachusetts from 1994–1996. Meanwhile, Cooley began his coaching career at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, spending the 1994–1995 season as an assistant men's basketball coach before returning to Stonehill as an assistant coach in 1995–1996.

In 1996, Cooley joined Al Skinner's staff as an assistant coach for URI, before following Skinner to Boston College in 1997. In nine seasons as an assistant at BC, Cooley helped the Eagles post a 175–108 overall record, which included five 20-win seasons. The team captured the 2000–01 Big East Conference championship, five NCAA tournament berths, and one National Invitation Tournament, giving the team six post-season berths in nine seasons.

Cooley earned his first head coaching position in 2006 for Fairfield University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In five seasons, Cooley's teams posted a 92–69 overall record and 58–32 conference record. In 2009–10, with a 23–11 record, Fairfield advanced to postseason play, setting an NCAA Division I postseason record by overcoming a 27-point halftime deficit to win in overtime over George Mason in the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Stags were defeated in the quarterfinals of the tournament by Creighton.

In 2010–11, Cooley's Fairfield squad captured the MAAC regular season championship before falling in the semifinals of the 2011 MAAC Men's Basketball Tournament. They were defeated by Kent State in the second round of the 2011 NIT, finishing with a school-record 25–8 record. Cooley was named MAAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year and was the USBWA District 1 Coach of the Year.

Cooley returned to his hometown and the Big East Conference in March 2011, replacing Keno Davis as head coach at Providence College.^[4]

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Providence Friars bio
• Boston College Eagles bio