Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Terry Cooper
MBHS Athletic Director Terry Cooper, who has seen his programs win 91 state championships in his 23 years as AD, is retiring this month.
Terry Cooper sees himself as a “behind-the-scenes” kind of athletic director.
“I do all I can to help our coaches be as successful as they can be,” the Mountain Brook school system’s AD said. “I try to do as much as I can for our coaches, whether that’s taking certain things off their plate so they don’t have to worry with it, but it’s basically trying to serve them. And I try to be a behind-the-scenes person. The programs are about the kids. You want them to have as positive of an experience as possible.”
He’s done that pretty well.
Under Cooper’s 23-year watch, which officially ends with his retirement in October, the Spartans have won 91 state championships along with 30 runner-up finishes. As a coach, he’s directly responsible for two of those championships. He led the boys golf team to the 1997 state championship and the girls swimming and diving team to the 2002 state title.
He might want others to be the “face” of Mountain Brook athletics, but those numbers suggest if he’s not been the face of one of the most successful athletic programs in the state, he’s been its backbone. He has spent his entire 38-year educational career in the Mountain Brook system. Last season, Mountain Brook was ranked 11th in the country in the MaxPreps Cup, which is based on first- and second-place finishes in state championship.
No wonder school officials have asked him to stay on part-time in aiding a smooth transition to the next AD.
“I think Coach Cooper’s strength is that he knows who will be a good fit at Mountain Brook,” said boys basketball coach Bucky McMillan, who led the Spartans to their first state championship last season. “We’ve got one of the winningest overall athletics programs in the state, and every coach here is a coach Coach Cooper has hired.
“I was 23 years old coming out of college with no coaching experience. He saw something in me that said I would be a good fit here. He kind of had to go out on a limb. But he’s got the guts to do that.
“He gives you so much freedom to manage your program. He hires you and then trusts you to run your program. So you don’t want to let him down.”
Although he’s left the spotlight for the coaches and athletes, others have not overlooked his accomplishments.
He was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. He’s a member of the Wall of Fame at his high school alma mater, Emma Sansom in Gadsden, and his college alma mater, Birmingham-Southern, inducted him into its hall of fame in 2004. He was also inducted into the Etowah County Hall of Fame.
As an administrator, Cooper has been an active member of the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association. He is currently serving on the Alabama High School Athletic Association District 5 Board and Legislative Council and is a member of the AHSAA Central Board of Controls. Cooper was selected as the Alabama High School Athletic Director of the Year in 2000-01 and was the recipient of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Associations State Award of Merit in 2006.
The 61-year-old Cooper planned to step down next year. But knowing that Mountain Brook wanted him to help in the transition, he decided to go ahead and pass the baton to a new AD while assisting in the transition.
“I just feel like it’s time,” Cooper said. “I’ve always heard you’ll know when, and I just feel at peace and very comfortable. And the way some things have turned out, I can do it a year before I turned 62. I was probably looking at next October, and they said we’d just like to have somebody in here to work with you for awhile.”
He doesn’t like to take the credit for what’s been accomplished during his tenure, but he’s proud of what the coaches and athletes have done.
“Obviously, we’ve certainly won a lot of championships,” he said. “I don’t think we typically go into a season saying we want to win a state championship. Personally, my goal is for the team to reach their potential and then maybe even exceed their potential. Hey, when the game starts, I’m all for winning and we’re going to celebrate our victories and our championships, but we’re also proud of those teams that do their best and might not.”
The athletic facilities are something else he’s proud of, and he gives a lot of the credit to the school board and support groups for that. He said in his mind, they’re akin to what you used to see on college campuses.
“I’m also very proud of the growth of the program,” he said. “We have more kids involved and participating in sports than ever before, and we field a team in every sport the AHSAA sponsors — and we field a JV team in it and a girls team in it. We feel like we have a sport any student can be involved in. Having a program that’s able to offer opportunities for kids is really important.”
McMillan added, “That’s another reason we’ve been so successful. Coach Cooper cares about every sport. He makes you feel your sport is the most important on campus. That’s why Mountain Brook is one of the top 20 programs in overall athletics in the country year after year.”
