PC men's basketball coach Ed Cooley — living large with 'dream big' philosophy
PROVIDENCE — We should talk more about Ed Cooley.
Not the basketball coach. There’s plenty of that already.
His story. His perseverance. The notion of possibility that he offers to the community where he holds one of the highest-profile jobs you could wish to have.
Cooley won his 200th career game at Providence College on Saturday, an 85-71 cruise past Saint Peter’s. The Friars controlled the second half and shot the ball beautifully to pull away from the Peacocks. The boxscore and record books will tell you all of those things.
Milestone for Ed Cooley: 3 thoughts on PC's 85-71 win over Saint Peter's
Ed Cooley maximized every opportunity
What you won’t see are the odds of this happening. They’re staggering. One of eight kids from a broken home, an All-State player at Central High, a student who all but begged his way into prep school at New Hampton, a college graduate at Stonehill, an assistant who became a trailblazer as the first Black head men’s basketball coach both at Fairfield and with the Friars.
Any one of those achievements — changing the future for his family, the sporting accolades, the academic success, the professional career he’s built — could be a lifetime highlight. Cooley has done all of it and more. That he now sits with Joe Mullaney and Dave Gavitt at such an exclusive table stuns the senses when considering Cooley’s life.
“I had tears in my eyes because I couldn’t believe it,” Cooley said. “Who ever saw that coming?”
Maybe one person, and he stares back at Cooley in the mirror every morning. A handful of families and close friends within his South Providence neighborhood helped raise him. Several teachers at Central and in the Upward Bound program at Rhode Island College nudged him along in the classroom.
'I tell people to dream big'
But make no mistake — Cooley has actively made the decision to maximize each and every one of his opportunities, as evidenced by what is essentially a lifetime contract with Providence. His wife and two children enjoy a comfortable home base in East Greenwich he couldn’t have conceptualized as a kid. All the talk in postgame press conferences and before practices about wins and losses, recruiting, the next opponent, a future run to the NCAA Tournament — it's garnish by comparison.
“I tell people to dream big,” Cooley said. “Dream big.”
Cooley won 48 games in his last two years at Fairfield, enough to put him on the radar of a Friars program that was approaching train-wreck status under Keno Davis. Trouble both on and off the floor had Providence in the doldrums. Bob Driscoll was under pressure as an athletic director whose first two hires in his major revenue programs — men's basketball and men’s hockey — had failed.
What’s followed is a marriage that has quite literally reshaped the school’s campus. A reconfigured Big East helped the Friars stand on more level footing with non-football powers, and an influx of network television cash from Fox Sports provided some needed funds for improved facilities. Providence’s athletic department — with Cooley as one of its central, front-facing figures — is unrecognizable from the smaller shop it was as recently as 10 years ago.
“We still want to win at a higher level,” Cooley said. “We want to continue to compete for championships. But that’s the administration.
“If you have a coach who’s been at a place that long, to give you the opportunity to get that many wins, those wins belong to the administration. I can’t say that enough.”
Driscoll, his fellow athletic department staffers, the Friars donor base and ticket holders — the voice representing them is deep and self-deprecating, profound and unflinching. Cooley spoke openly last year about being subjected to racial verbal abuse in a local restaurant. It’s one of the latest examples of using his platform when necessary — Cooley also has advocated for fellow Black coaches to receive greater opportunities within the sport and pushed for social progress within both the school and city communities.
Cooley was a toddler the first time Providence made the Final Four in 1973 and a teenager for its second appearance in 1987. His coaching dream, of course, is to lead the Friars to a third at some point during his tenure. That Cooley is even in position to attempt such a thing — considering his story — says more than any wins and losses.
“To be in that company, to me, it’s amazing,” Cooley said. “I hope I get another 200 at Providence College.
“I’m very, very fortunate.”
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: PC men's basketball coach Ed Cooley won his 200th career game Saturday
