Ron Cooper
Ron Cooper went 67–91 as a head coach, 1993–2026, at Eastern Michigan, Louisville, Alabama A&M, FIU and LIU. Share
10 seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1998–2001 at Alabama A&M; 2016 at FIU; 2022–26 at LIU. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 67–91 career
- Seasons
- 15
- Schools
- 5
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 1995 7–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Eastern Michigan | 4–7 | T–7th | |||
| 1994 | Eastern Michigan | 5–6 | 7th | |||
| 1995 | Louisville | 7–4 | ||||
| 1996 | Louisville | 5–6 | T–3rd | |||
| 1997 | Louisville | 1–10 | 7th | |||
| 1998 | Alabama A&M * | 5–6 | ||||
| 1999 | Alabama A&M * | 6–5 | 2nd (East) | |||
| 2000 | Alabama A&M * | 7–5 | T–1st (East) | |||
| 2001 | Alabama A&M * | 5–6 | 4th (East) | |||
| 2002–15: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2016 | FIU * | 4–4 | 4th (East) | |||
| 2017–21: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2022 | LIU * | 4–7 | 3rd | |||
| 2023 | LIU * | 4–7 | T–2nd | |||
| 2024 | LIU * | 4–8 | 4th | |||
| 2025 | LIU * | 6–6 | T–3rd | |||
| 2026 | LIU * | 0–4 | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 12 | 5–7 | 42% |
| Conference games | 28 | 10–18 | 36% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 21 | 8–13 | 38% |
| At home | 28 | 11–17 | 39% |
| On the road | 27 | 11–16 | 41% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 27 | 16–11 | 59% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 28 | 6–22 | 21% |
His own 55 games on file, 1993–1997, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Scherer 1995–1997 | 2–1 | Memphis | 3 | |
| Jeff Bower 1995–1997 | 0–3 | Southern Miss | 3 |
Ron Cooper’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Kentuckyseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Memphisseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Tulaneseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Southern Missseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Kent Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Northern Illinoisseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Miami (OH)series | 2 | 1–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Appalachian State | Graduate assistant | |
| 1984 | Minnesota | Graduate assistant | |
| 1985–86 | Austin Peay | Assistant coach | |
| 1987–88 | Murray State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1989 | East Carolina | Assistant coach | |
| 1990 | UNLV | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1991–92 | Notre Dame | Assistant coach | |
| 1993–94 | Eastern Michigan | Head coach | |
| 1995–97 | Louisville | Head coach | |
| 1998–2001 | Alabama A&M | Head coach | |
| 2002 | Wisconsin | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2003 | Mississippi State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2004 | South Carolina | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2005 | South Carolina | Outside linebackers and special teams coach | |
| 2006–07 | South Carolina | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| 2008 | South Carolina | Safeties coach | |
| 2009–11 | LSU | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2012 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2013–14 | South Florida | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| 2015 | FIU | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2016 | FIU | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2016 | FIU | Interim head coach | |
| 2017 | Texas A&M | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2018–19 | Arkansas | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2021 | Alabama | Analyst | |
| 2022–present | LIU | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Mack BrownApp State
- Lou HoltzMinnesota, Notre Dame, South Carolina
- Mike MahoneyMurray State
- Bill LewisEast Carolina
- Jim StrongUNLV
- Barry AlvarezWisconsin
- Jackie SherrillMississippi State
- Steve SpurrierSouth Carolina
- Les MilesLSU
- Greg SchianoTampa Bay Buccaneers
- Willie TaggartSouth Florida
- Ron TurnerFlorida International
- and 6 more
Assistants who became head coaches
- Donnie KirkpatrickChattanooga
- L. C. ColeTennessee State, Alabama State, Stillman
- Stan DraytonTemple
- Everett WithersNorth Carolina, Texas State, Temple, James Madison
- Sal SunseriPittsburgh
Worked under (18)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mack Brown | App State | 1983 | Graduate assistant | |
| Lou Holtz | Minnesota | 1984 | Graduate assistant | |
| Mike Mahoney | Murray State | 1987–88 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Bill Lewis | East Carolina | 1989 | Assistant coach | |
| Jim Strong | UNLV | 1990 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Lou Holtz | Notre Dame | 1991–92 | Assistant coach | |
| Barry Alvarez | Wisconsin | 2002 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Jackie Sherrill | Mississippi State | 2003 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Lou Holtz | South Carolina | 2004 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Steve Spurrier | South Carolina | 2005–08 | 2005: outside linebackers and special teams coach; 2006–07: assistant head coach and defensive backs coach; 2008: safeties coach | |
| Les Miles | LSU | 2009–11 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Greg Schiano | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | 2012 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Willie Taggart | South Florida | 2013–14 | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| Ron Turner | Florida International | 2015–16 | 2015: defensive backs coach; 2016: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Ron Cooper | Florida International | 2016 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jeff Banks | Texas A&M | 2017 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Kevin Sumlin | Texas A&M | 2017 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Chad Morris | Arkansas | 2018–19 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Barry Lunney Jr. | Arkansas | 2019 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | 2021 | Analyst |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donnie Kirkpatrick | Eastern Michigan, 1993: wide receivers coach; 1994: assistant head coach and quarterbacks and running backs coach; Louisville, 1995–96: quarterbacks coach; 1997: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Chattanooga | |
| L. C. Cole | Eastern Michigan, 1993: special teams and running backs coach | Tennessee State, Alabama State, Stillman | |
| Stan Drayton | Eastern Michigan, 1994: running backs coach | Temple | |
| Everett Withers | Louisville, 1995–97: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | North Carolina, Texas State, Temple, James Madison | |
| Sal Sunseri | Louisville, 1995–97: linebackers coach; Alabama A&M, 1998–99: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Pittsburgh |
Other assistants under him (6)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Wilson | Eastern Michigan, 1993–94: offensive coordinator | |
| Thomas Roggeman | Eastern Michigan, 1993–94: defensive coordinator | |
| Bret Ingalls | Eastern Michigan, 1994: offensive line coach; Louisville, 1995–96: offensive coordinator | |
| Fred Kaiss | Alabama A&M, 2000: offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Grady Brown | Alabama A&M, 2000: graduate assistant; 2001: outside linebackers coach | |
| Kevin Cosgrove | Long Island University, 2022: defensive coordinator; 2023: special assistant to the head coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Florida International | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $12,500 | $126,250 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.