Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Men's Basketball Athletic Trainer
- Email:
- racoope8@ncsu.edu
- Phone:
- (919) 515-6942
Cooper joined the North Carolina State Sports Medicine staff in June 2019. He serves as the head athletic trainer for the men’s basketball team.
He came to Raleigh after two seasons at the University of Nevada as an athletic trainer for the men’s basketball and women’s swimming and diving teams. Cooper was responsible for all health care aspects of both men’s basketball and women’s swimming & diving teams. He also oversaw the sports medicine department inventory and was in charge of new product research.
Cooper came to the Wolfpack from the NFL’s Chicago Bears where he worked as a seasonal athletic trainer. While with the Bears, Cooper assisted with daily rehabilitation of the players. Additional duties included traveling with players to meet with specialty physicians, organization and coordination of athletic training equipment supplies, and supervision of summer training camp interns.
Prior to his time in the NFL, he worked as an intern athletic trainer at Michigan State University with the Spartan football team. At MSU he performed daily rehabilitation, supervised undergraduate athletic training students in the MSU athletic training education program, served as a liaison between the athletes and physicians, documented injuries, scheduled physician appointments, and established post-concussion balance measurements.
Cooper also spent time at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland working as the interim head athletic trainer for the football and men’s basketball teams. He coordinated and handled all the athletic training needs of both teams in his time at Morgan State.
The Rochester, N.Y. native earned his bachelor’s degree in health and fitness training from Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y. in 2013 and later his master’s degree in athletic training in 2014. He also holds additional certifications through the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Performance Enhancement Specialist and a Corrective Exercise Specialist.
