| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Record | 195–270 |
| Playing career | |
| 1990–1991 | Sacramento City College |
| 1992–1993 | Miami (FL) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1994–1995 | Miami (FL) (Asst.) |
| 1996 | Wake Forest (Asst.) |
| 1997–1998 | Tulane (Asst.) |
| 1999–2003 | Sacramento City College (Asst.) |
| 2004 | Oral Roberts (Asst.) |
| 2005–2013 | Wright State |
| 2014–2023 | Penn State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 463–479 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| |
Rob Cooper is an American college baseball coach, most recently serving as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions baseball program. Cooper was appointed to the position of head coach prior to the start of the 2014 season.[1][2] He resigned after the 2023 season.
Cooper played baseball at Sacramento City College for two years before transferring to the University of Miami for his final two years. He served as a student assistant coach at Miami in 1994 while finishing his degree. From 1990 to 1992, Cooper worked as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.[1][3]
Cooper earned a graduate assistant coach position at Miami for the 1995 season before moving to Wake Forest for the 1996 season. He then coached for two seasons at Tulane, where he helped lead the Green Wave to a conference regular season crown in 1997 and an NCAA berth in 1998. He then returned to Sacramento City College, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for five seasons.[4] Cooper then served one season as an assistant at Oral Roberts before being named head coach at Wright State. In nine seasons, Cooper led the Raiders to seven 30-win seasons, two Horizon League and three Horizon League baseball tournament championships, and three NCAA Division I Baseball Championship appearances.[1] Prior to his arrival, the Raiders had finished six of the previous seven seasons with losing records.[4] In August 2013, Cooper was named head coach at Penn State, a similar rebuilding job to what he faced at Wright State.
This table shows Cooper's record as a head coach at the Division I level.[1]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wright State Raiders (Horizon League) (2005–2013) | |||||||||
| 2005 | Wright State | 26–33 | 11–9 | 4th | |||||
| 2006 | Wright State | 32–27 | 17–13 | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2007 | Wright State | 36–22 | 21–9 | 2nd | |||||
| 2008 | Wright State | 30–23 | 16–6 | 2nd | |||||
| 2009 | Wright State | 33–30 | 14–12 | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2010 | Wright State | 31–25 | 17–6 | 1st | |||||
| 2011 | Wright State | 36–19 | 16–7 | T-1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2012 | Wright State | 37–21 | 20–10 | 2nd | |||||
| 2013 | Wright State | 25–30 | 9–12 | 4th | |||||
| Wright State: | 286–230 | 141–84 | |||||||
| Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten) (2014–2023) | |||||||||
| 2014 | Penn State | 18–32 | 5–18 | 11th | |||||
| 2015 | Penn State | 18–30 | 6–16 | 12th | |||||
| 2016 | Penn State | 28–27 | 12–12 | T–9th | |||||
| 2017 | Penn State | 18–37 | 4–20 | 11th | |||||
| 2018 | Penn State | 13–34 | 3–21 | 13th | |||||
| 2019 | Penn State | 21–27 | 4–18 | 13th | |||||
| 2020 | Penn State | 10–5 | 0–0 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | |||||
| 2021 | Penn State | 18–24 | 18–24 | 9th | |||||
| 2022 | Penn State | 26–29 | 11–13 | 6th | Big Ten tournament | ||||
| 2023 | Penn State | 25–25 | 7–16 | 12th | |||||
| Penn State: | 195–270 | 70–188 | |||||||
| Total: | 481–500 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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