Cooper takes helm at Ross girls basketball

1999 Ross grad went 50-8 with freshman, JV teams during the past three seasons.

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 8:46 AM Friday, November 27, 2009

ROSS TWP. — If there was one thing Emily Cooper was certain of while growing up in Ross, it was that she would never wear a whistle to work.

Well, so much for that.

Cooper officially begins her first season as Ross High School girls basketball coach Saturday afternoon, Nov. 28, when the Rams play host to Badin.

“I always said I would never be a coach,” Cooper said. “My dad (Marty) is a college basketball coach (at Itawama Community College in Mississippi), and I saw how much time it took for him with recruiting and scouting and practicing.

“But I guess it’s just in my blood,” she continued. “I couldn’t get away from it.”

A 1999 Ross graduate who excelled in both basketball and softball, Cooper also played both of those sports at the University of Rio Grande, where she earned a double major in mathematics and information technology.

And while she’s putting her math degree to good use as an editor and writer at MathQueue — a West Chester Twp. company that writes student textbooks, workbooks and software — the lure of coaching was too strong to resist.

“My mom (Sallie) remembers me saying I would never coach, but she’s always been very supportive with everything I do,” Cooper said. “She sees that I can be a positive influence for the young athletes at Ross. I mean, this is where I grew up, so it’s nice to be able to give back to the community that helped bring you up.”

Cooper joined the softball staff in 2004, and she coached freshman basketball in 2006-07 and junior varsity basketball the last two seasons before landing the varsity job in June.

Her basketball teams went a combined 50-8 in her three seasons as head coach, and she also received quite a bit of mentoring along the way from longtime coaches Paul Fernandez, Jim Kernohan and Fred McCollum.

“The last few years have been great learning alongside those guys,” Cooper said. “They all have numerous years of varsity experience coaching different sports. Every day it was 100 ideas coming into practice. I definitely learned a lot.”

Cooper said she’ll take those lessons along with what she learned as a player and mix them into a coaching style that she thinks will produce positive results.

“It wasn’t that long ago that I was in their shoes and going through what they’re going through,” Cooper said. “The main thing I want to do is be consistent. No matter if they’re the No. 1 kid or the No. 12 kid on your roster, you need to be consistent with your discipline and how you encourage them.”

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Jason Dietz  New Miami

Age: 36

High school: Madison,  Class of 1992

College: Grand Canyon University, 2006-present (secondary education and social studies major)

Coaching experience: Madison High School boys volunteer assistant (1998), Madison eighth-grade boys (2007-2008), Madison youth program director (1999-present), AAU (2001-present).

Krista Doan  Monroe

Age: 28

High school: Talawanda,  Class of 2000

College: Miami Unversity, Class of 2005 (health and physical education major)

Coaching experience: Talawanda High School freshman coach (2003), Fairfield High School varsity assistant (2006-2008), Middletown High School varsity assistant (2008-2009)

Nikki Drew Lakota East

Age: 32

High school: Mercy,  Class of 1995

College: Xavier University, Class of 1999 (education major)

Coaching experience: Vanderbilt University assistant (2002-2003), Colerain High School girls head coach (2003-2007)

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