Joey Cooper enters his first season as an Assistant Baseball Coach for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Mountain Lions program. Now residing in Colorado Springs, the Bakersfield, California native brings a rich background of Division I championship success, player development, and elite summer collegiate league experience to UCCS.
Cooper brings with him a wide array of coaching experience, as he served on staff at New Mexico State University during the 2023 season after helping guide Delta State to a 32-17 record and an NCAA South Regional appearance. He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Montana State University Billings.
Cooper would soon go on to serve as an assistant coach at Bowling Green State University during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. During his time at BGSU, Cooper helped guide the Falcons to back-to-back 33-win seasons, which was the program’s first consecutive 30-win campaigns in over two decades. The program would go on to earn a program record 24 conference victories and claim the 2024 Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship. During the 2024 season, Cooper coached the high-powered Falcon offense that finished eighth nationally in runs per game (9.2) while the team also broke program records for strikeouts thrown, walks drawn (310), and fielding percentage (.976). On top of helping with BGSU’s success, Cooper was a mentor for multiple All-MAC honorees, including the MAC Defensive Player of the Year Garrett Wright, and the MAC Player of the Year Nathan Archer.
After his time at BGSU, Cooper joined the staff at the University of Hawai’i as the Director of Analytics and Performance where he spearheaded performance metrics, player development analytics, and data integration for the Rainbow Warriors.
Aside from his coaching experience during the school year, Cooper also brings summer collegiate coaching experience, as he spent time in the Northwoods and West Coast Leagues, where he coached with the Bismarck Larks and returned as an outfield coach for the Portland Pickles following a record-setting playing tenure with the team. Cooper also served on the coaching staff of the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League, as he helped lead the team to a CCBL championship game appearance.
Cooper’s playing experience includes a season at Palomar College in 2017 where he earned JUCO All-American honors after batting .434, a mark that still ranks among the top 10 single-season batting averages in program history. Following his time with the Comets, Cooper went on to play at California State University, Northridge, where he appeared in 55 games and started 51 in 2018 while posting a .389 on base percentage with five home runs, 31 runs batted in, and ranking fifth nationally in hit-by-pitches with 21. On top of his playing time in school, Cooper played three summer seasons for the Portland Pickles where he holds the all-time franchise records for games played, at-bats, and stolen bases.
Cooper earned his Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a Specification in Kinesiology from CSUN, along with a Master of Science in Sports Management from Delta State University.
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