Kyle Cooper
Kyle Cooper
Title: Head Coach
Phone: 325-574-7696
Email: kyle.cooper@wtc.edu

Kyle Cooper enters his third season as Head Coach at Western Texas College. In his first two years, the Westerners have back-to-back Region V tournament appearances, multiple wins against nationally-ranked opponents, several appearances in the NJCAA national rankings, and an overall record of 38-19 (67%). The WJCAC tournament championship highlighted the 2021 campaign, the first postseason championship at WTC in nearly forty years. At the WJCAC conference tournament, the Westerners defeated the No. 3 team in the country to advance to the championship round. Six players receive WJCAC All-Conference honors under Cooper, and one player received All-Region honors. Eleven players signed to play at four-year universities.

During his first season at WTC, Cooper coached the Westerners to a 23-11 record and the semifinals of the Region V tournament. The twenty-three wins tied for the most wins at WTC since 1984. The Westerners ranked in the national polls for five consecutive weeks during that season, reaching No.11. At the Region V tournament, the Westerners upset the No. 3 ranked team in the country to advance.

Cooper came to WTC after one season as the top assistant coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (NJCAA D1). The Bulldogs finished that season 20-6 and won twenty games for the first time since 2011-12. His primary focus was on the Bulldogs’ defense which finished No. 3 in the NJCAA in points allowed per game and No. 6 on Massey Ratings in overall defense. The team extended the longest standing MACJC postseason streak by making the postseason for the 21st year in a row. Gulf Coast maintained a 100% graduation rate, and five sophomores signed to continue at NCAA D1 or D2 schools.

Before his time at Mississippi Gulf Coast, Cooper was the head coach at the Little Priest Tribal College in Nebraska (NJCAA D2). The Warriors won fourteen games in 2017-18. The program had managed only three wins in its first three seasons. Cooper’s players won the school's first three conference player of the week awards. In addition, they had a national player of the week after upsetting the undefeated No. 1 team in the country, the defending national champion in NJCAA Division II. Seven of his twelve players earned Academic All-Region honors, and one player signed to a mid-major NCAA Division I school.

As associate head men’s basketball coach from 2011-2017 at North Iowa Area Community College (NJCAA D2), Cooper helped lead the Trojans to five straight winning seasons for the first time in twenty-five years. He recruited and coached the school’s first-ever two-time All-American, seventeen all-region players, and fifteen players who continued their collegiate basketball careers to play NCAA Division I or II. Six of his players eventually played professionally overseas.

Cooper also played for NIACC, where he was a first-team All-Region player and ranked fourth with 81 3-pointers in a season. He hit 161 3’s in his JUCO career. He was 5A 2nd team all-state in high school at West Plains High School.

After getting his associate’s degree at North Iowa, he graduated from Waldorf University with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership and a master’s in the same field with an emphasis in sports management.

Cooper lives in Snyder with his wife Nicole and their daughter Mia.