Cooley Always Had the Coach In Him
Ed Cooley has had an eye for basketball talent for a long time. The Fairfield first-year head coach is one who definitely started early.
The Providence native was a star at Central High School, which was by far the best team in the state in his high school days. But even in those days, he was not only talented, but he knew the game. Providence Journal writer Paul Kenyon, who was hired to cover high school sports and is now the beat writer for the University of Rhode Island, remembers how Cooley first showed his knack for knowing the landscape during his junior year of high school.
“I’m in the office one day and the guard at the front door calls the sports department to say I had a visitor – one Ed Cooley,” Kenyon recalls, noting that the office is just down the street from Central High School.
Cooley came in and started to talk about basketball with him, which he did a few more times over the next couple of years. The two formed a rapport, and it was one that certainly helped Kenyon with what he called “the toughest part of the job”, which was picking the all-state team. When his senior year came up, Cooley came by the office and told Kenyon about some other players, making it clear who he thought was good and who he thought was over-rated.
Kenyon felt comfortable with and was impressed enough with Cooley to let him help pick the team. He remembers Cooley saying that he wanted to be a basketball coach, and describes him as one of his favorites.
Cooley is now a college head coach after a long, productive run as an assistant coach for Al Skinner at Rhode Island and Boston College. You can see the heritage of his days under Skinner in how his team plays, from the flex offense to the persistence against the opposition when they seem to break the game open. In the times to come, that will surely be even more evident as the program will consist of more and more kids he and his staff recruit. Cooley’s talent evaluation skills helped Boston College land a number of players who have been important to their recent success.
He had two homecomings of different sorts this week. On Monday, the Stags played at Providence, where he is originally from and lived while coaching at Rhode Island and Providence. He still owns a home there, and Providence head coach Tim Welsh noted that Cooley’s son goes to his summer basketball camp. Then on Wednesday night, Cooley returned to Boston College as the Stags took on the Eagles. He got a warm welcome from the crowd, and after Wednesday’s game, he could be seen embracing his former colleagues and players.
The Stags lost both games, but as they have for much of the season, they impressed with their style of play. The Stags have played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in America, but have played several of the best teams close. Cooley was happy to see his team pull Providence out of its zone defense, and on a couple of occasions it looked like the Friars were going to pull away for a blowout, but it never happened.
“His team is playing hard, and he’s doing a real good job as a first-year coach,” said Welsh. “That team’s 2-7 and they’re in here playing their hearts out.”
Boston College did pull away, and after the game Eagles head coach Al Skinner noted that he’s not fond of playing a former assistant.
“I’m not excited about playing him,” said Skinner, who also spoke of the very difficult schedule the Stags have played thus far. “It’s a loss for him.”
The Stags are 2-9 against this tough schedule, but with the way they play and the MAAC being wide-open save for Marist being the favorite, they will be a team to keep an eye on. They are young, as they start three freshmen, but the talent and coaching are certainly there. The future bodes well given the youth of the team, and in the fall signing period they landed a good class. The class for next year shows the reach Cooley and his staff have, as the three players range geographically from the northern Virginia suburbs of the nation’s capital to Georgia.
With the knowledge he showed as a high school player, it’s no surprise that Ed Cooley has become a Division I head coach. When his team wins game after game in the years ahead, that won’t be a surprise, either.
