Drew Cooper joined the Kentucky Wesleyan College Department of Athletics in March of 2018 as the 23rd Head Men’s Basketball Coach in program history. The 2024-25 season marked his seventh with the storied Wesleyan program. A 3-time conference Coach of the Year (2024, 2018, 2017), Cooper holds a total record of 199-128 (.608) over 12 seasons as a head coach.
The 2024-25 season completed a two-year run during which Kentucky Wesleyan’s 43-16 record was tops (winning percentage) in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and third in the Midwest Region. Finishing 2024-25 with a record of 22-7, the Panthers completed the regular season undefeated at home. With a 16-4 G-MAC record, KWC accumulated the most conference wins since joining the conference in 2013.
The 2023-24 season began with the Panthers making national headlines, as they defeated power five University of Louisville 71-68 in an exhibition game on October 30th, 2023. The team reeled off win streaks of both eight and ten games throughout the season, and found themselves ranked in the NABC top 25 poll towards the end of the year. The Panthers took home the G-MAC regular season title while earning a #2 seed in the Midwest Regional, Wesleyan's 41st NCAA tournament appearance. They finished the season with a record of 21-9 (15-5 G-MAC), and their NCAA tournament appearance was the first for Kentucky Wesleyan since 2017. In addition to being named 2024 GMAC Coach of the Year, Cooper also was acknowledged as the 2024 NABC All-Midwest District Coach of the Year.
During the 2022-23 season, Cooper led the Panthers to the program's first win over a nationally ranked opponent since the 2012-13 season when they defeated #7 Hillsdale 72-71 on January 19th, 2023. This win highlighted a 12-2 home mark during the season. The Panthers had a final record of 15-14 (11-9 G-MAC) and qualified for the G-MAC tournament.
2021-22 saw the Panthers compete through a host of injuries. Ben Sisson (missed 5 games) and Jamil Wilson (missed 4 games) went down at different stages while Kaeveon Mitchell played his final game of the season in the first week of December. Finishing the season at 14-14, the Panthers lost several games down the stretch. Eight losses came either in overtime or with the Panthers being within 2 points of their opponent with less than 75 seconds to play. The Panthers remained resilient winning 4 of their last 5 contests and competing admirably in the G-MAC.
Cooper continued the rise of the men's basketball team in multiple ways in 2020-21. Navigating through the short and uncertain COVID-19 Pandemic, the Panthers finished with a 10-6 record, including a 9-5 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Just missing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, they were one of only three teams in the G-MAC to obtain a ranking within the Atlantic Region. Wesleyan hosted the quarterfinal round of the G-MAC Tournament for the first time since the conference expanded (2017) into the esteemed conference of present day.
Wesleyan finished the 2019-20 season 13-16 overall with a 9-9 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Cooper got the Panthers peaking at the right time as they finished the G-MAC regular season with the sixth best record, but through tiebreaks were the eighth seed in the Conference Tournament. The Panthers went on the road and upset the top seed Hillsdale in the opening round, their second win over the Chargers on the season. Then they topped the fifth seed Malone in the semi-finals before falling in the Championship game to Walsh.
The Panthers started the 2018-19 season with 14 new players on the roster. Cooper guided Wesleyan to a 10-16 overall record with an 8-12 mark in league play. The Panthers finished ninth overall in the conference standings. Cooper also notched his 100th career win via a 69-48 victory over Trevecca Nazarene on January 3rd, 2019.
Cooper now holds a 105-82 (77-55 G-MAC) mark while at Wesleyan. Not only has the athletic profile continued to rise, but under Cooper's direction the team GPA regularly exceeds a mark of 3.0.
Cooper came to Wesleyan from Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., where he was the Head Coach for five years. The Saints went 94-46 in Cooper’s tenure with a 66-20 mark in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC), including two straight championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. The Saints posted a record of 45-13 during that span.
Prior to his time at Thomas More, Cooper spent six seasons at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky. where he was the assistant men’s basketball coach from 2007 to 2013. During six seasons as lead assistant, he helped the Knights to a record of 152-41. Four out of his final five seasons at Bellarmine entailed an appearance in the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen, including a Final Four appearance in 2012, and Bellarmine’s first National Championship in school history in 2011.
While at Bellarmine, Cooper coached under Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Scott Davenport. There, Cooper was an integral part of the recruiting process of eight members of the All-Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) team, including seven First Team members. Three of these eight were at one point during their career named GLVC Player of the Year and subsequently received NCAA Division II All-American accolades.
Cooper started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Bellarmine followed by a season as a Graduate Assistant at Northern Kentucky University in the 2002-03 season. He then headed to the northeast as an assistant coach at Babson College (MA).
As a player, Cooper was a standout at NCAA Division II Assumption College (MA). Cooper played for four years at Assumption under legendary coach Serge DeBari. DeBari is a member of the Assumption College, New England Basketball, and Sons of Italy Hall of Fames. While at Assumption, Cooper scored 2,001 points and was a two-time NABC Honorable Mention All-American. While Cooper was a junior at Assumption, they won the 1998 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship and advanced in the NCAA Division II tournament to become Northeast Regional semifinalists. This highlighted a remarkable turnaround within the program as Assumption went a combined 1-52 during the two seasons prior to Cooper and DeBari’s arrival. A three-time First Team All-Northeast 10 conference selection, Cooper was inducted into the Assumption Athletic Hall of Fame on October 23, 2010. Cooper went on to play professionally after his college graduation in the International Basketball Association (IBA), Ireland, and Germany.
Cooper served on the NCAA Coaches Connection Committee from 2019 until the summer of 2022. From 2022-2024, he was the G-MAC coach’s representative on the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Advisory Committee.
