Cooper will join former Buckeye coach Jim Tressel at the "Coaching Legends presented by the Waikem Auto Family" event on Jan. 28 at the Canton Palace Theatre.
Over John Cooper’s 13-year coaching career at Ohio State, he signed 281 scholarship players, including Buckeye legends such as Orlando Pace (a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame), Eddie George (the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner) and three-time All-American Mike Doss (a McKinley grad who was a co-MVP of the 2003 Fiesta Bowl).
He’ll share some of his favorite memories at 7 p.m. Jan. 28, when he joins former OSU coach Jim Tressel at the “Coaching Legends presented by the Waikem Auto Family” event at the Canton Palace Theatre. Tickets are $25 and $35, with a meet-and-greet add-on available for an additional $99, and can be purchased either at the box office or at cantonpalacetheatre.org.
Just don't expect Cooper to name the five best players he ever coached.
“That kind of question is hard," he said. "You always know you’ll leave somebody out."
Still, Cooper was willing to pick his best in a few categories.
Q. Best player you ever coached?
A. “People ask me all the time who the best athlete I ever coached was and I don’t know if it was Joey Galloway or Robert Smith or David Boston or someone else. But when they ask me the best player, that’s pretty easy. It was Orlando Pace.”
Q. Hardest-working player you ever coached?
A. “Probably Eddie George. I’d put him up real high. Eddie didn’t start here until his junior year. As a freshman, he fumbled twice (inside the 5-yard line) against Illinois. He wouldn’t have played for Woody Hayes if he had done that, although somebody told me Jim Otis once fumbled three times in a game. But Eddie never got down on himself and just kept working, working, working. And by his senior year, against basically the same Illinois team, he rushed for (a school-record) 314 yards. That’s a pretty good example of how good he got and how hard he worked to get there.”
Q. Best leader?
A. “One of the top leaders I ever had was (quarterback) Kirk Herbstreit. He was a great leader. He wasn’t no NFL player, although he might have been if we had run the spread offense. But in those days, nobody was running that. He was a heck of a leader. So was (nose guard) Luke Fickell. He started (a school-record) 50 straight games, so you have to put him somewhere in that group.”
Q. Funniest player?
A. “(Running back) Michael Wiley. Michael liked to have fun. He was one of those guys who would joke all the time and was just a fun guy to be around. And (cornerback) Shawn Springs, too. I’d have to put both those guys in there. They were both guys that had fun and tried to make hard work more fun. They joked around a little bit and always seemed to have a smile on their faces. Players respected them and looked up to them.”
Q. Hardest hitter?
A. "I’d put (linebacker) Andy Katzenmoyer on that list somewhere. (Linebacker) Mike Vrabel, too. They would both be there for sure."
Q. Fastest player?
A. “(Wide receiver) Joey Galloway. He’s usually noted as the fastest guy we had. The NFL timed him in like 4.18 (over 40 yards). Another guy I’d put in that category was (wide receiver) Terry Glenn. We played Notre Dame in 1995 and we hadn’t played them since 1938 or something. (Note: It was 1936.) They had a corner (Allen Rossum) who was advertised as the fastest player in football, and on third down, Terry Glenn caught a curl pass in front of that corner and took it to the house (for 82 yards). That guy couldn’t catch him. (Glenn) was probably the quickest guy I ever remember having on a team.”