Hall of Fame Inductees
- Induction:
- 2013
John Cooper, a previous inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, now enters Ohio State’s Athletics Hall of Fame after a coaching career that included guiding Ohio State to 111 victories and five Top 10 national finishes between 1988-2000.Explosive offenses and excellent defenses were the hallmarks of Cooper’s 13 years as Ohio State head coach. The only coach to win Rose Bowls as coach of a Pac-10 school (Arizona State in 1987) and a Big Ten school (Ohio State in 1997), Cooper’s Buckeye teams still own the top three single-season passing totals in school history and four of the Top 5 total offense totals.
Individually, Cooper produced 22 First Team All-Americans at Ohio State, 16 first-round draft picks with Dan Wilkinson and Orlando Pace both selected No. 1 overall, Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George, seven NFF Scholar-Athletes and two handfuls of major award winners, including Lombardi (Pace), Outland (Pace), Butkus (Andy Katzenmoyer), Thorpe (Antoine Winfield), Biletnikoff (Terry Glenn) and Draddy (Bobby Hoying) honorees. The All-Americans and greats he coached also feature Korey Stringer, Mike Vrabel and Shawn Springs.
He led the Buckeyes to three Big Ten championships – his three teams combined for nine total conference titles – and his 1996 Ohio State team defeated Arizona State in the 1997 Rose Bowl and finished 11-1 and No. 2 in the nation. His 1998 team also finished 11-1 and No. 2 with a win in the Sugar Bowl.
Cooper grew up in the Knoxville, Tenn., suburb of Powell. He spent two years in the U.S. Army after graduating and then went to Iowa State University where he played on the football team and served as a team captain as a senior. He graduated in 1962.
Cooper was named the Associated Press national Coach of the Year in 1986 and he earned similar honors from the Sporting News, Football Writers Football News and the Pac-12 Conference during his 39 years as a collegiate coach. He has an overall record of 192-84-6. Cooper, who served as president of the American Football Coaches Association, is a scout for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
