John Cooper

John Cooper is a former college football head coach who reached the pinnacle of his career at Ohio State. He led the Buckeyes from 1988-2000. During that time, OSU won three Big Ten titles and finished ranked in the top 25 eight times. On two occasions, Ohio State finished ranked second. He racked up a 111-43-4 record in 13 years as the Buckeyes head coach. His 111 victories rank second in program history. In 1997, Cooper led Ohio State to their first Rose Bowl win in 13 seasons. Prior to coming to Columbus, Cooper was the head coach at Arizona State. He coached the Sun Devils for three years, winning the Pac-10 Conference in 1986. That season, Cooper was also named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. He began his head coaching career at the University of Tulsa. Cooper led the Golden Hurricane to five straight Missouri Valley Conference championships from 1980-84. He had his first job in coaching as a freshman team coach at his alma mater, Iowa State. Cooper went on to be an assistant at Oregon State, UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Rose Bowl Hall of Fame and the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame.