Rick Cooper

Contact Coach Cooper:
rick.cooper@lakotaonline.com

Rick Cooper became the Lakota West head coach in 2004. The position had been vacated by the unexpected death of his mentor, Steve Cummins the previous year. Shortly after Cummins passing Cooper resigned as the Sycamore high school head coach, a position he had held for three years, and returned to take leadership of the program that he had helped Cummins build. Since his return, the Firebirds have played in six district tournament finals winning three. His 2004 team went on to win the regional championship. In 2011 Cooper’s Firebirds won a GMC championship and he was named conference coach of the year. Cooper had joined Cummin’s staff at Lakota in 1992 as the junior varsity coach and served in that capacity for four years. He had an outstanding 75.1% winning percentage as the Junior Varsity coach capping that phase of his career with a 12-1-2 record in 1995. Cooper was then promoted to varsity assistant coach. He was Cummin’s chief assistant with the 1996 Lakota Greater Miami Conference championship team, the 1997 Lakota West GMC Championship team, and the 2000 Lakota West team which made a run to the State Final Four. Cooper left Lakota West in 2001 to accept the varsity head coaching position offered by his high school alma mater, Sycamore. The Aviators, coming off a down year in 2000, struggled to a 6-9-1 record and a tie for seventh in the GMC in Coopers first season at the helm. By his third season, Cooper had piloted the Aviators up to a tie for third in the GMC and a very respectable 11-4-4 overall record. Cooper played soccer for four seasons at Sycamore high school, earning three varsity letters. After graduating from Sycamore in 1987 he earned a degree in education at Ball State University. While there he played four seasons on the college’s club team. In his last two club seasons, he doubled as both head coach and player. In his student teaching year at Ball State, he began his high school coaching career serving as the varsity assistant for North Central High school. After graduation from Ball State in 1991, Cooper served as a boys coach for the Fairfi eld soccer club. His past club coaching activities have also included work with both the Sycamore and Club Ohio Soccer clubs. Cooper began teaching in the Lakota school district in the fall of 1992. He currently teaches gifted education classes at Liberty junior school.