COLUMBUS, Ohio – John Cooper, who guided Ohio State to 111 victories and five Top 10 national finishes between 1988-2000, will be enshrined into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Dec. 30 at the Pasadena Convention Center. Cooper is part of a 2012 class of Rose Bowl Hall of Famers that includes Ron Yary and Brian Griese.
Explosive offenses and excellent defenses were the hallmarks of Cooper’s 13 years as Ohio State head coach. The only coach to win Rose Bowls as coach of a Pac-10 school (Arizona State in 1987) and a Big Ten school (Ohio State in 1997), Cooper’s Buckeye teams still own the top three single season passing totals in school history and four of the top five total offense totals.
Individually, Cooper produced 21 first-team All-Americans at Ohio State, 16 first-round draft picks, a Heisman Trophy winner and two handfuls of major award winners, including Lombardi, Outland, Butkus, Thorpe and Biletnikoff honorees.
Cooper guided Arizona State to a three-year, 25-9-2 record and one Pac-10 title, and Ohio State to a 111-43-4 mark and to three Big Ten Conference championships. His 1996 Ohio State team defeated Arizona State in the 1997 Rose Bowl and finished 11-1 and No. 2 in the nation. His 1998 team also finished 11-1 and No. 2 with a win in the Sugar Bowl.
Prior to his stints at Arizona State and Ohio State, Cooper was head coach at Tulsa. He guided the Golden Hurricane to five Missouri Valley Conference championships and to a record of 56-32 in eight seasons.
A 1962 graduate of Iowa State University, Cooper was named the Associated Press national Coach of the Year in 1986 and he earned similar honors from the Sporting News, Football Writers Football News and the Pac-12 Conference during his 39 years as a collegiate coach. His overall record was 192-84-6.
Cooper served as president of the American Football Coaches Association. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
