Kyle Cooper may be a Keystone-state native, but throughout his adult life, those ‘County Roads’ seemingly keep him coming ‘home.’ Cooper grew up in Waterford, Pa., less than a 20-mile trip southeast from Erie.
Yet when it came time to select a college, Cooper opted to attend West Virginia University in Morgantown. This, despite the fact that his father is a Penn State alum.There he earned dual bachelor’s degrees during his undergrad career. He decided to stick around Morgantown to finish his master’s in educational leadership.
All the while, Cooper spent his free hours surrounded by basketball — first helping John Beilein’s men’s team as a manager and camp counselor, and then hopping over to the women’s program to help Mike Carey as first the head student manager and then as a graduate assistant.
He finally left to work as director of women’s basketball operations at Ohio University in Athens for one season, before an assistant coaching opportunity opened up at then Wheeling Jesuit University. After two seasons at WJU, Cooper jumped at the chance to work and learn under Lynn Ullom at rival West Liberty. When Ullom hung up the whistle and accepted the Athletics Director position at WLU, he handed the reins to Cooper.
Cooper has spent nearly as much time living as a West Virginian as he has as a Pennsylvanian — a fact not lost on the married father of two. It doesn’t hurt that his wife is an Ohio Valley native and Katie, like her husband, works for the university as West Liberty’s Director of Financial Aid.
All in the Family
That closeness has helped Cooper run his program like a tight-knit family. His top assistant, Cassie Seth, grew up in Waterford along with Kyle. They knew each other long before Seth, whom Cooper calls his co-head coach, Cassie Seth, joined Cooper’s coaching staff after serving as an assistant at Baldwin-Wallace College.
The two play off one another, which helps both in coaching and in recruiting. Speaking of recruiting, now that he’s the head coach, Cooper hasn’t stepped back and asked his assistants to handle his light work. He’s actively involved in the process. He knows the types of not only players, but also people whom wants to bring into his team environment. They have to be the right fit. The only way to ensure that is to develop a close relationship with the player prior to committing to the university—as close as the NCAA allows anyway.
But that bond continues long after the recruited players sign on the line. It’s not a ploy to get them to come to West Liberty, but a genuine philosophical approach to basketball and life. Watch Cooper interact with his players, both on the sidelines, at practice, or even during a press conference, and you can see the camaraderie and mutual respect. The players know Coach Kyle has their back and offers his full support. At such a transitional point in a young adult’s life, that is support is key.
You’ve gotten to work in some capacity under some pretty successful coaches, from John Beilein and Mike Carey at WVU to Lynn Ullom at West Liberty. Obviously, you want to forge your own style and path, but do you find yourself taking bits and pieces from each and molding them into how you want to coach and teach the game?
There is no doubt that I have been fortunate to work under and alongside some incredible coaches including Lynn Ullom, Mike Carey, Joanna McNamee (Bernabei), John Beilein, and Semeka Randall (Lay). I have always been someone that is a sponge and almost nerdy when it comes to the game. I was fortunate to grow up around great people, especially my parents, and they pushed me always to outwork people and take on more, and that carried right into how I approached and forged my path into coaching. Whether it was trying to sit in recruiting meetings, practice, game, etc. as a student manager to pushing to take as much ownership of the program as an assistant coach, I am someone that wants to constantly learn, grow, and develop. I’m fortunate to say that the majority of people I have worked for and with I have stayed close to and now am fortunate enough to call them friends, colleagues, mentors, and family. They all have shaped me in some way into who I am today; whether it was Coach Beilein’s meticulous film study and work, Coach Carey’s intensity and ability to push people harder than they believe they can go, Coach McNamee’s ability to build meaningful and genuine relationships, Coach Randall’s passion for the game and her players, or Coach Ullom’s unique and effective style of play, there is a part of them in everything that I do. I still turn to each of them, among others, on a regular basis as I continue to evolve as a coach but always remember to still be me in every way and put my own spin on things because the more true you are to yourself, the better you are going to be, and the more the players are going to believe.
You’re a Pa. native, but you have spent most of your time in the MEC with primarily West Virginia schools. Is there something about the area that interested you in the first place or is it the conference itself which seems fairly competitive with some top teams and individual talent?
I am definitely a Western Pa. guy and proud of that, but somewhere along the way, despite my love for Penn State football and my dad being an alum there, I wanted to pave my own path, and that led to WVU, where my career in coaching truly began to grow, and more and more opportunities started to present themselves. Honestly, I never saw myself getting out of the DI world, but I wanted desperately to get out of the administrative/operations side of the game and dive into the recruiting and more true coaching roles so when the opportunity presented itself through networking ties to get into the DII world in the Ohio Valley, where my wife is from (Weirton Girl), I took the chance and made the move; and I have never looked back and truly love being at West Liberty University because this place is special. It is really crazy to think that in a few years here I will have spent as much time living in the state of West Virginia as I did growing up in the state of Pennsylvania, and I love it here, and I’ve enjoyed my time at WVU and WLU.
This was your fourth year involved in the recruiting process as a head coach. How did it differ, not only in terms of has it gotten easier but also the challenges that may have been posted by the pandemic? Do you think this will have more of an effect on the 2021 and 2022 class than this year’s?
I’ve learned that being the head coach versus the assistant coach comes with different hurdles and challenges, and recruiting is no different. Everywhere I have been, I have always had my hands in recruiting and loved it. I’ve always been known as a recruiter when it comes to hearing colleagues, competitors, etc. describe me, and I can honestly say that unlike most head coaches, especially at the DI level, I am still extremely active in the recruiting process. For example, Cassie and I tag team all recruiting travel versus her doing the majority of travel. I still take the lead on planning visits, meetings, game plans, etc. I guess I am someone that always has believed that you win this game with people, so I am going to make sure that the people we bring into this program and family are the right ones. There is no doubt that this pandemic has affected recruiting in a major way. We love to get out on the road and see players, and once we identify the ones we want, it is a full court press to build that relationship, get them on campus, and sell who we are and what we’re about. Like anything though, we are adapting. One unique thing that we did was I went and shot multiple short videos of myself touring our athletic facilities and then Cassie put the product together so that recruits who couldn’t come to campus could see how lucky we are here; and I am happy to say they were a hit and helped us in major way. We make sure as a staff to keep family and who we are at the heart of things, and so even with distance we highlight that.
Speaking of recruiting, you had a brief performance as Topper the Bear; not a lot of head coaches would be willing to do that. Do you think it’s important for your players to see that side of your personality as well? Even during the press conference following the regular-season finale against Wheeling with your four seniors, you could see the family-style atmosphere and camaraderie with the players. Is it tough to balance that with the demands of coaching?
I have to credit Cassie with pushing me to do that, and I’m fortunate to have her in so many ways, but she really has a pulse on players and gets really creative with ideas. We’re definitely a staff that isn’t afraid to show people, not just players and recruits, who we are because that’s what it’s about in life, and that’s doing what you love and being true to who you are while doing it. There’s no doubt that I believe the biggest part of our success as a program surrounds our approach to relationships, and I can honestly say that we show love and vulnerability and so on with our players, and in turn they play harder for one another and for us. Family is not a sell for us; it is a way of life here at West Lib. It can be tough to balance our approach with the demands of actually coaching and pushing the players, but a lot of that takes care of itself because they genuinely want to get better and want to play hard and want to do things the right way because of that level of care for one another. Our relationships being stronger allows us to better work together to get the best out of one another while wanting to be the best versions of ourself at the same time. I’m also a firm believer that it’s easier to take tough coaching when you know it is done out of love and out of a genuine want to make you and us successful versus fear or other tactics.
There are a lot of demands timewise from someone in your position. Is it tough spending so much time away from the family? Or, given that both you and your wife work for the university, is it easier to incorporate your children into your work lives?
That’s definitely the area that I believe was slightly different than I realized when transitioning into being the head coach; and that is just how many different directions you get pulled. Our approach though of being more than a team and being a family naturally lends itself to have both the passion I have for my basketball family and the passion I have for my home family cross more, and it is more natural and not forced because of it. My wife and kids love our players, and the feeling is mutual, and with Katie and me on the same campus, it makes it easier to all be around each other. That said, there are definitely times of the year I don’t get the time that I wish I had with my family at home, but I’m fortunate to have someone like Katie that gets my job and is strong and driven as my better half and the head coach at home. Along with that, I am fortunate to have Cassie as an assistant, even though I approach it as her being a co-head coach, because she is really, really good and takes lead on all strength and conditioning and academics while attacking and being a part of all the other aspects of the program as well to take things off my plate. She does so balancing me and knowing who I am as a person, not just a coach because of our extensive background which makes everything come together more and be more consistent for the team. There are tons of long days and long hours, but I just work really hard at being where my feet are and giving everyone in my life my everything, and somehow it always comes together.
