[Students] Texas A&M University-Commerce Names Carlton Cooper as Athletic Di rector

[Daniel Kambel]

For Immediate Release
Page 1 of 2
Sent: June 19, 2007
Contact: Danny Kambel, (903) 886-5131
 
For more information on Texas A&M University-Commerce Athletics, please
visit www.lionathletics.com
 
Texas A&M University-Commerce Names Carlton Cooper Athletic Director
 
COMMERCE, Texas -- Following a nationwide search, Texas A&M
University-Commerce President Keith D. McFarland has announced the hiring of
Carlton Cooper as its new athletic director.
 
A press conference to announce this hiring will be held Tuesday, June 19th
at 11:00 a.m. in the Business Administration Building in Room 290 on the
campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce.
 
Cooper, who has spent the last nine years working for the athletic
department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, comes with an
extensive athletic background as a former student-athlete and as a
supervisor of internal and external affairs within intercollegiate
athletics. At A&M-Commerce, he will be responsible for the oversight of 11
intercollegiate sports that participate in the Lone Star Conference.
 
Since 2000, Cooper has served as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for
Internal Operations at SMU, where he is responsible for the coordination of
day-to-day internal operations of the athletic department while assisting
the director of athletics in supervising and providing leadership for
department initiatives. He has been involved in the development of
long-range and annual operating plans. Those functions include: personnel,
conference liaison, fund raising, facilities operations, facilities
enhancement, sports supervision, game-day operations, sports scheduling,
academics and making financial bids on conference and NCAA Championships.
Cooper also oversees the following support areas: community and guest
relations, equipment room, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, video
operations, team travel, stadium maintenance/concessions and security
operations. In addition, he has also served on multiple committees for the
university, Conference USA, Western Athletic Conference and the NCAA.
 
Prior to his current position at SMU, Cooper served as the Athletic
Department¹s Community Relations Director from 1998-2000. He founded the
National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) for SMU and developed the curriculum
for the SMU PIKE Big Brother Program (SMU/Dallas Public Schools Tutoring and
Mentoring program). Cooper designed ³Reading Our Way to College², a reading
program for DISD fourth-grade students and created the SMU/MLK (Martin
Luther King Center) ³Road to the Pros² career lecture series featuring
national sports, education and business leaders.
 
Cooper holds memberships to a number of organizations and serves as a board
member for the Dallas All-Sports Association, SMU Advisory Board for the new
student recreation center, Longhorn Hall of Honor, SMU Ex-Student
Association, and the University of Texas Ex-Student Association. He also
serves on the NCAA Championship Cabinet and is also involved in the Dallas
Black Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Dallas Asian and Hispanic Chambers of
Commerce, NACDA and the University of Texas Longhorn Foundation.
 
The Paris, Texas native was recently added to the Wall of Fame at the Boys
and Girls Club of the Red River Valley. Cooper played college basketball at
the University of Texas from 1982 to 1985 and was drafted by the Dallas
Mavericks. He went on to serve as a player/coach in the Netherlands, New
Zealand and Philippines before returning to Paris in 1994 to become the Head
Boys Basketball Coach and with Assistant Principal duties.
 
Cooper earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University
of Texas in 1985. A two-time member of the Dean¹s List, he received the
Texas Teacher Certificate in 1985 as well. Cooper collected a graduate
certificate in mediation/arbitration from SMU in 2000 and earned a Master¹s
of Liberal Arts degree from SMU in December 2001. Cooper was a four-year
letterwinner at Texas, where he also was an assistant coach when they won a
regular season conference title in 1986.
 
He is the son of Clarence and Barbara Cooper of Paris, Texas is married to
Niesje and they have four children, Brandon, Danielle, Chanel and Ava.
 
More on Carlton Cooper:
 
PERSONAL DATA
Hometown: Paris, Texas
Bachelor's: University of Texas-Austin (1985)
Master's: Southern Methodist University (2001)
 
Brief Employment History
1985 Dallas Mavericks (Drafted Player)
1985-87 University of Texas (Graduate Assistant Basketball Coach)
1986 Kaypro Basketball Stars - Netherlands (Professional Player/Coach)
1986 Manilla Beer Basketball Team - Philippines (Professional Player/Coach)
1987-1994 Nelson Basketball Association ­ New Zealand (Professional
Player/Coach)
1994-1996 Paris High School (Head Basketball Coach/Assistant Principal
Duties/Teacher)
1997-2000 Arlington Texans ­ Southwest Professional Basketball League (Head
Coach/General Manager)
1998-2000 Southern Methodist University (Community Relations Director)
2000-present Southern Methodist University (Senior Associate Athletic
Director/Internal Operations)
 
University at Albany Vice President for Athletic Administration/Past
President of NACDA - Dr. Lee McElroy:
³Carlton is very experienced and well qualified to assume the duties of
athletic director at Texas A&M-Commerce. He has the respect of athletic
administrators across the country and will be very successful in his
endeavors.²
 
University of Southern California Athletic Director - Mike Garrett:
³I would like to congratulate Texas A&M-Commerce for selecting Carlton
Cooper as the next Athletic Director. He is very knowledgeable about college
athletics and knows what it takes to create a successful department. I
believe that Carlton will bring great insight and energy to an athletic
program with great potential. Everyone is a winner in this selection.²
 
Former SMU Athletic Director - Jim Copeland:
"We really appreciated his enthusiasm and energy at SMU. He did a little bit
of everything for us. I think he will suit Texas A&M-Commerce well."
 
SMU Head Men's Basketball Coach - Matt Doherty:
"Carlton is a great guy that will do a terrific job of bringing the athletic
department together along with creating a vision of success."
 
SMU Head Men's Soccer Coach - Schellas Hyndman:
"We are very excited for Carlton Cooper as he realizes his dream and becomes
the new Athletic Director at Texas A&M-Commerce. Carlton played a very
important role in the success of SMU soccer, having reached the College Cup
final four twice under his leadership. In addition, we hosted two soccer
College Cups while Carlton was here at SMU.  He's been a great friend to SMU
soccer and will be missed."