PARKVILLE, Mo. - Park University has named Kenneth Cooper to lead its women's basketball program, making Cooper the 10th head coach in the history of the program.

"I'm extremely excited to have a person of Kenneth's character and leadership qualities to be a member of the Park University athletic department and I'm looking forward to working with him," said Director of Athletics Claude English. "Kenneth comes highly recommended and I know he will provide the type of leadership that will represent the program and the University in a very positive way." Cooper spent three years as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division I Mercer University in Macon, Ga., from 2007-2010, and was instrumental in assisting head coach Janell Jones reinvigorate the Bears' program. A proven winner, Cooper's work at MU was another successful stint in his coaching career.

Cooper was a part of a staff that inherited a 5-25 team and then had to endure a 4-26 record its first season with the Bears. However, the 2008-09 season, in which the Bears went 17-14, proved to be the greatest turnaround in the country that year, according to CollegeRPI.com, by making a 153 point swing (315 to 162) in the RPI from that inaugural campaign with Mercer. The team was picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic Sun Conference by both media and coaches pre-season polls, but proved the experts wrong with a fourth place showing and advanced all the way to the A-Sun semifinals.

The 2009-10 Bears - despite an injury-plagued season - managed a second-straight trip to the A-Sun tournament and posted a record of 14-16, on a team with just two seniors on the entire roster. The 31 wins amassed by MU in the past two seasons are the most in any back-to-back seasons by Bears' teams since 1995-97.

Along with his duties as assistant coach at Mercer, Cooper has excelled as the recruiting coordinator for the Bears in each of his seasons. In those three seasons, student-athletes recruited by Cooper have earned a first-team All A-Sun award, three second-team all-conference honors, an A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, eight A-Sun Player of the Week awards and 18 academic all-conference selections.

Statistically, MU has had a top-five scorer in the A-Sun in each of his years. This season, the team had the No. 2 and No. 7 scorers in the league, as well as the steals leader.

As a part of Mercer's 2010-11 recruiting class, Cooper brought in three players that were ranked in the top 50 by ESPN in the southeast Region.

"I first of all want to thank my college coaches, Jeff Daniels and Roy Dixon of the University of Montevallo and Janell Jones of Mercer University and Rita Story-Schell of Seminole State College for giving me the opportunity to play and coach the sport of basketball, I wouldn't be where I am today without those wonderful people," said Cooper.

"I also want to thank my wife, Erin Cooper, for being there for me throughout this process and being so gracious each time we had to pick up and move when an opportunity presented itself in my career. I'm very fortunate to be coming to Park University, the hiring committee at Park made me feel comfortable and gave me the sense that Park had a family atmosphere and I felt welcome from the start.

"I can't wait to meet with the team and get started. I will bring an up tempo style of basketball on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball and hope to bring success to the University."

Prior to joining the Bears, Cooper spent three seasons as an assistant with Seminole State College, helping the team reach the Bi-State Conference Tournament each year during his tenure. Cooper compiled a 51-40 (.560) record during his three-year stint as an assistant coach with Seminole State.

The team improved each season, going from 10-21 in 2004-05 to 16-13 in 2005-06 to 25-6 in 2006-07.

The Belles won the Bi-State West Conference championship last season with a 14-0 mark at home. Seminole State also finished third at the 2007 NJCAA Region II Tournament.

Also serving as recruiting coordinator for Seminole, Cooper brought in and coached numerous players that received accolades. He tutored six all-conference nominees, three first team all-region performers, a regional Player of the Year and a second team All-NJCAA member.

Prior to his arrival at Seminole State, Cooper played at the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Ala. After redshirting his freshman year, Cooper helped the Falcons win a Gulf South Conference Tournament title during his senior season when he served as team captain. Montevallo also reached the NCAA Division II South Regional finals as the Falcons finished with a 23-10 record in 2004. He received the University of Montevallo Sportsmanship Award in 2004.

A native of Fayetteville, Ga., Cooper starred at Fayette County High School before his collegiate playing career at Montevallo. At Fayette County, he served as team captain his junior and senior seasons while earning four varsity letters.

Cooper graduated from Montevallo in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for Kenneth," said Mercer University head women's basketball coach Janell Jones. "We are certainly going to miss what he brought to our program. We are extremely excited for him.

"It is no accident that we have had the two best back-to-back recruiting classes in Mercer history. Coach Cooper is directly responsible for bringing in these quality athletes. His genuineness, honesty, unselfish demeanor and willingness to always do what's best for the program makes him an outstanding recruiter. Couple this with an incredible love of the game and a tireless work ethic and you can see why I believe he will be a tremendous head coach and take Park University to another level."