Hall of Fame
Jon Cooper is the winningest football coach in Benedictine University history as well as the longest tenured.
Cooper paced the sidelines for 11 years and amassed 62 career victories. Inheriting a program with just 24 players, Cooper was able to win three games in his first year and grow the program despite being hired late.
Cooper was able to guide Benedictine to three conference titles in the course of five seasons, reaching the NCAA Playoffs in each of those years. The team won titles in 2010, 2011 and 2014 and Cooper was twice selected as the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Coach of the Year. The championship in 2010 marked the first time that Benedictine participated in the NCAA Division III Playoffs and was the team’s first conference title since 1935. The three titles are tied for the third most in conference history and Benedictine became the first program to win three conference titles. The team went to a different site for each of their playoff appearances, meeting national powers St. Thomas, Mt. Union and Wheaton.
Benedictine became the first team in the history of the NACC to secure back-to-back conference titles in 2010 and 2011. Cooper helped guide the team into the transition to the NACC, which began play in 2008.
Additionally, Cooper coached John Borsellino, who was inducted into the Benedictine Hall of Fame last year and was the first All-American in football since 1993 and just the fourth overall. Borsellino was one of six players during Cooper’s tenure that earned a Conference Player of the Year Award. Teams set many records on offense and defense during Cooper’s 11 years, several of which still stand.
