Russell Cooper enters the season as a volunteer assistant working with the Buccaneers' pitching staff. He previously spent two seasons as an assistant coach wih the program and brings an extensive resume featuring experience from all levels of the game.
Cooper was the pitching coach at Washington University in St. Louis from 2014-16 and the assistant coach at Saint Louis University from 2008 to 2010. He was an assistant coach for the New Zealand Junior National Team and has coached several American Softball Association (ASA) girls 16 U and 18 U teams.
Known for his strong knowledge of advanced and basic pitching and hitting mechanics, Cooper has gained experience working as an instructor at the University of South Florida winter camp and at UNLV and Florida State since 2005. He worked in a camp capacity for the universities of Missouri, Georgia, Washington, Louisville, Illinois-Chicago, Northwestern, LSU and Central Florida.
Cooper has played and coached softball for over 40 years, beginning with winning six national championships in three different age groups as a teenage player in New Zealand. He was an All-American selection at the men's ASA national tournament in 1987 and a member of the 1988 men's national training squad in New Zealand.
Continuing his playing career, Cooper was a member of the 1993 men's ASA national championship team that finished first in Decatur, Illinois. He was a second place finisher at the 1993 International Softball Congress (ISC) world championship and a first place finisher and winning pitcher at the 1994 ISC world championship in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Cooper had his own pitching and hitting instruction business in St. Louis for 15 years and has helped develop and get recruited upwards of 100 girls to play collegiate softball. Most recently, he was a coach on Bill Conroy's highly successful 18 U Beverly Bandits team.
