Joey Cooper - Baseball Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Joey Cooper

Title:
Assistant Baseball Coach
Email:
coopej@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-7095

Joey Cooper finished up his second season as an Assistant Coach for the Falcons in 2025. Cooper arrived at BGSU in 2024 after spending the 2023 season with New Mexico State.

During his second season with the Falcons in 2025, Cooper and the Falcons put together another historic campaign. As a team, BGSU broke the program record for strikeouts in a season for the second straight year with 431 while also setting the record of innings pitched with 480.1 as well as fielding putouts with 1,441. The team also recorded an 11-game winning streak, tied for the third-longest in program history. Bowling Green tallied 33 wins over the course of the season, the first time with back-to-back 30-win seasons for the team since 2001-02. At the season conclusion, both Garrett Wright and Connar Penrod were named All-MAC First Team while Wright took home the MAC Defensive Player of the Year honor. In total, Wright broke three program records while Penrod broke one, being saves in a season with 12.

During his first season with Bowling Green in 2024, Cooper assisted the Falcons to a program record 24 MAC wins while also tying the program record for MAC winning percentage (.800, 24-6). Bowling Green captured the MAC Regular Season title, the program's first since 2009. Additionally, BGSU had nine players receive a program record 14 All-Conference honors at the conclusion of the regular season. As a team, the Falcons broke the program records for walks drawn (310), strikeouts thrown (403) and fielding percentage (.976). Offensively, the Falcons averaged 9.2 runs per game, ranking eighth in the nation, registered a program record 33 RBI in a game against Ball State and scored the second-most runs in program history for a game with 34 against Ball State. In total, BGSU tied or broke nine records across program history for single-game, single-season and career.

Prior to his season in Las Cruces, Cooper spent a year as a Graduate Assistant Coach at Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi. With the Statesmen, Cooper helped lead the program to a 32-17 record and a trip to the NCAA South Regional. The regional appearance was the 35th NCAA postseason appearance for a storied Delta State program. Before Delta State, Cooper spent one season in Billings, Montana as a Graduate Assistant Coach for Montana State University Billings.

Cooper is also becoming a staple in the summer collegiate coaching ranks. Thus far, Cooper has worked with both the Portland Pickles and the Bismarck Larks of the Northwoods League. In the summer of 2022, Cooper returned to the Pickles as an Outfield Coach after spending three summers in Portland as a player. In 2023, Cooper aided the Orleans Firebirds in the Cape Cod League to a championship game appearance and will return to the Cape in 2024.

In 2015, the Bakersfield, California native started his collegiate career at Palomar College. He remains ranked sixth all-time in the Palomar baseball record book for batting average after hitting .434 in his sophomore season. Cooper earned All-American honors during his time at Palomar.

After transferring to California State University Northridge, he had his best season with the team as a redshirt junior. In the 2018 season with the Matadors, Cooper scored 35 runs, had 47 hits, six doubles, two triples, five home runs, 31 RBI and a .389 on-base percentage. Cooper ranked fifth nationally in hit by pitches with 21.

Cooper played his summers in the West Coast League for the Portland Pickles, spending three seasons with the team. He leads the team’s all-time records in total games, at-bats and stolen bases.

Cooper earned a master’s degree in Sports Management from Delta State University. Additionally, Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies with a focus in Kinesiology from Cal State Northridge in 2019.