After leading the Raiders to back-to-back appearances in the Horizon League Championship Game and into the NCAA Tournament in 2006, head coach Rob Cooper will lead the Green and Gold in his fourth season as the figurehead for the program. Named just the fourth head coach in the 37-year history of the program on July 14, 2004, Cooper came to WSU and began to build a program that modeled him as a person.

After serving as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University Cooper took the reigns at Wright State, bringing a passion and vision to an already strong program. In his first three seasons, Cooper has guided the Raiders to 94 wins, set a new school record for league wins in a season (21) and led his squad to the NCAA Tournament in 2006.

In 2007, Wright State enjoyed one of the most prolific offensive seasons in school history as they broke 11 single season school records and three career records in the process. Ross Oeder was named the Horizon League Player of the Year and garnered Second Team All-American Honors, while Dan Biedenharn won the Rawlings Gold Glove at third base. Oeder and Justin Parker were each selected to the ABCA All-Region team and Jeremy Hamilton was added to the USA Collegiate National Team roster during the summer.

During the season the Raiders posted a pair of victories over then-18th ranked Mississippi in Oxford, MS and posted a winning record on the Road for the first time since 1994. The Green and Gold also posted 15 wins at home and set a new school standard for league wins in a season with 21. WSU made their second trip to the Horizon League Championship game in 2007, falling in the finale to UIC. Senior Brian Shoup set a tournament single-game record for home runs, with three, against Milwaukee to propel the Raiders into the championship game.

In the summer of 2007, Cooper joined an elite group of coaches when he was selected as an Assistant Coach for the USA Collegiate National Team. The WSU head coach traveled around the world with the National Team and won the Silver Medal at the Pan-Am Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Cooper helped Team USA compile a 25-12 overall record during their summer of play.

The 2006 edition of the Green and Gold set six school records and posted the most season wins in five years. During the '06 slate the Raiders defeated nationally-ranked TCU, topped national-powerhouse Notre Dame in South Bend and had the Raiders on the brink of an upset against eventual national champion Oregon State in the NCAA Corvallis Regional.

In three seasons at the helm, Cooper has seen five of his players sign professional free agent contracts and has had a pair of players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Joe Smith, who was the 2006 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year, was drafted in the fifth round by the New York Mets and made his major league debut on Opening Day of the 2007 season. Ross Oeder, the 2007 Horizon League Player of the Year, was taken by the St. Louis Cardinals in the draft last season and played for the Batavia (NY) Muckdogs after finishing his season with the Raiders.

Cooper has coached 23 All-League performers and one All-American. Oeder and Smith are the first players in history to garner the Player and Pitcher of the Year honor since WSU joined the Horizon League/Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Oeder became only the sixth player in league history to earn the league's player of the year and tournament MVP honor in his career.

Oral Roberts, a perennial power of the Mid-Continent Conference, advanced to the finals of the NCAA Austin Regional in 2004, beating TCU twice and losing to top-seeded Texas 7-3 and 7-5. The Golden Eagles, who finished with an overall mark of 50-11 in 2004, also boasted regular-season wins over national powers Arkansas, Arizona State twice, Creighton three times and Wichita State. ORU also had five players selected in the Major League Baseball draft, two honored as All-Americans by the American Baseball Coaches Association and three named All-Americans by the College Baseball Insiders website.

Cooper, who served as ORU's hitting coach as well as recruiting coordinator and bench coach, began his coaching career at national power Miami (FL), spending two seasons (1994-95) as a student/graduate assistant on the Hurricanes' staff. While at Miami, Cooper helped lead the Hurricanes to College World Series berths in 1994 and 1995.

The Colorado native spent the 1996 season as an assistant and team academic coordinator at Wake Forest, then moved on to Tulane for the next two seasons, serving as the Green Wave's hitting coach. Cooper left Tulane following the 1998 season and returned to Sacramento City College, where he starred in the early 1990's before lettering at Miami in 1993.

In his first season at Sac City, Cooper helped guide SCC to the California Community College State Tournament championship. Sac City was then the runner-up in 2002.

During his tenure as an assistant coach at Miami and Tulane, his teams advanced to NCAA Tournaments in 1994-95 (Miami) and 1998 (Tulane). In 1997, the Green Wave won the Conference USA regular-season crown.

Along with his college coaching experience, Cooper also was an associate scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1990-92 and has made two coaching stints with USA Baseball in 2000 and 2007.

Cooper earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Miami in 1994 and a master's in sports sciences/administration from UM in 1996.

Cooper and his wife, Maureen, reside in the Beavercreek area and have two children, Jake and Tyson.