Dick Cooke

Not to be confused with Dick Cook.

For other people with the same name, see Richard Cook (disambiguation).

Dick Cooke is a former American college baseball coach, who served primarily as the head coach of the Davidson Wildcats baseball program. He was named to that position prior to the 1991 season, and is the winningest and longest-serving baseball coach in school history.^[1]

Dick Cooke

Biographical details
Born	(1956-10-28) October 28, 1956 (age 68) Point Pleasant, New Jersey, U.S.
Playing career
1975–1978	Richmond
Position(s)	P
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1988	Richmond (Asst.)
1989–1990	Belmont Abbey
1991–2018	Davidson
Head coaching record
Overall	595–837–1

Playing career

Cooke played at Richmond, earning three varsity letters as a left-handed pitcher. After graduating with a degree in journalism in 1978, he spent three years in the Boston Red Sox organization at class-A, appearing in 85 games with a 2.95 ERA.^[1]

Coaching career

A few years after ending his playing career, Cooke accepted a position as assistant coach at Richmond, where he remained for five seasons. He departed to become assistant athletic director and head baseball coach at Belmont Abbey in 1989, where he re-instituted the baseball program that had been discontinued at the varsity level 17 years earlier. After two years with the Crusaders, he accepted the head coaching position at Davidson. In his time with the Wildcats, ten players have been selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Cooke has also worked with USA Baseball, serving as an auxiliary coach at the 2000 Olympic Games and 2008 Olympic Games.^[1] In the summer of 2012, Cooke was named chairman of the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee.^[2] Just a month later, the car Cooke was driving was struck by another vehicle, leaving him with serious head injuries. After the 2013 season, Cooke was honored with the CollegeBaseballInsider.com's Tom Walter Inspiration Award.^[3][4][5] Cooke resigned following the 2018 season.^[6]

Head coaching record

The table below lists Cooke's record as a head coach at the Division I level.^[7]

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Davidson (Big South Conference) (1991–1992)
1991	Davidson	23–29	10–8	3rd
1992	Davidson	28–25	10–6	2nd
Davidson (Big South):		51–54	20–14
Davidson (Southern Conference) (1993–2014)
1993	Davidson	20–28	11–9	5th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 1]
1994	Davidson	20–31	12–2	8th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 2]
1995	Davidson	19–32	10–14	4th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 3]
1996	Davidson	16–33	6–18	8th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 4]
1997	Davidson	18–34	8–15	6th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 5]
1998	Davidson	13–38	8–16	7th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 6]
1999	Davidson	11–37–1	9–21	10th
2000	Davidson	26–28	14–15	7th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 7]
2001	Davidson	19–32	10–20	10th
2002	Davidson	21–29	13–16	T-8th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 8]
2003	Davidson	18–27	12–17	8th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 9]
2004	Davidson	20–33	13–17	7th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 10]
2005	Davidson	26–24	13–17	9th
2006	Davidson	18–33	6–21	9th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 11]
2007	Davidson	19–34	9–18	10th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 12]
2008	Davidson	12–38	4–23	10th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 13]
2009	Davidson	18–31	11–16	7th	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 14]
2010	Davidson	19–32	5–25	11th
2011	Davidson	18–30	8–21	10th
2012	Davidson	22–32	8–22	11th
2013	Davidson	18–31	12–18	9th
2014	Davidson	29–19	17–8	2nd	SoCon tournament[lower-alpha 15]
SoCon:		420–686–1	219–369
Davidson (Atlantic-10 Conference) (2015–2018)
2015	Davidson	28–22	14–10	T-4th	A-10 tournament
2016	Davidson	28–26	11–12	7th	A-10 tournament
2017	Davidson	35–26	13–11	6th	NCAA Super Regional
2018	Davidson	33–21	14–10	5th	A-10 tournament
A-10:		124–74	52–43
Total:		595–837–1
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

1. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's nine teams qualified for the tournament in 1993.
2. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's nine teams qualified for the tournament in 1994.
3. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's nine teams qualified for the tournament in 1995.
4. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's nine teams qualified for the tournament in 1996.
5. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's nine teams qualified for the tournament in 1997.
6. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's ten teams qualified for the tournament in 1998.
7. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's eleven teams qualified for the tournament in 2000.
8. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's ten teams qualified for the tournament in 2002.
9. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's ten teams qualified for the tournament in 2003.
10. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's ten teams qualified for the tournament in 2004.
11. All ten of the SoCon's teams qualified for the tournament in 2006.
12. All ten of the SoCon's teams qualified for the tournament in 2007.
13. All ten of the SoCon's teams qualified for the tournament in 2008.
14. The top eight finishers of the SoCon's eleven teams qualified for the tournament in 2009.
15. All ten of the SoCon's teams qualified for the tournament in 2014.

See also

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)

References

1. "2012 Baseball Coaching Staff". Davidson Wildcats. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
2. "Davidson College's Cooke named rules committee chairman". Huntersville Herald. Huntersville, NC. August 6, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
3. "Wildcats coach wins award". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC. July 26, 2013. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
4. Brian Foley (September 19, 2012). "Davidson Baseball Coach Dick Cooke Critically Injured". College Baseball Daily. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
5. Justin Parker (February 13, 2013). "Cooke ready to get started". Lake Norman Citizen. Charlotte, NC. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
6. Scott Fowler (February 12, 2018). "Davidson baseball coach Dick Cooke decides it is time for a change". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved June 6, 2018 – via www.charlotteobserver.com.
7. 2011 Baseball Media Guide (PDF). Davidson Wildcats. p. 19. Retrieved October 27, 2013.