John Cooper

Bio

With 111 wins in 13 seasons, Coach John Cooper ranks second only to the legendary Woody Hayes in all-time wins at Ohio State. Under Cooper, Ohio State finished the regular season holding a spot in the top 25 in nine of his 13 seasons with the Buckeyes. After racking up numerous conference championships, including five straight Missouri Valley Conference championships at Tulsa, one Pac-10 Conference Championship and Rose Bowl victory at Arizona State, he became the head coach of Ohio State in 1988, where he remained through the 2000 season. The first coach in history to lead both a Big Ten and a Pac-10 team to victories in the Rose Bowl, Cooper led his teams to 14 bowl games in 24 seasons and became a four-time American Football Coaches Association Regional Coach of the year. In addition to coaching 20 First-Team All-Americas, seven NFF National Scholar-Athletes and one NFF Campbell Trophy recipient during his career, Cooper also coached Heisman winner Eddie George and two-time Lombardi winner Orlando Pace to the Hall of Fame.