Athletics

Cooper Jones, who joined the Mean Green Athletics leadership team on Feb. 15, 2010, serves as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development. 

Before beginning his current responsibilities in Denton, Jones was the assistant athletic director of development & major gifts at the University of Louisville.  While at Louisville, the athletic development unit reached new heights through increased financial contributions and number of donors.  Support for athletic scholarships rose to 9,400 donors giving $11 million annually during his tenure.  Over $65 million was pledged since his arrival in 2006 to support Louisville athletics facilities, including expansions/completions to the Yum! Basketball Practice Center, the Marshall Center-Waldman Field Hockey Complex, Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and the new Downtown Basketball Arena.

Jones arrived in Louisville from the University of Maryland, where he was the director of major gifts since 2002.  In that role, he was the primary fundraiser for Capital Campaigns focused on the football, basketball, soccer, golf, baseball, track & field and lacrosse programs.  In that time, Jones also was a major participant in facility campaigns that upgraded, expanded or built eight new competition sites for Terrapin student-athletes.  He also participated in the total reseating of the 17,400-seat Comcast Center in the summer of 2002 and 2005 for the men's basketball program. 

Prior to his time at Maryland, Jones was the athletics development officer at Georgia Tech.  While in Atlanta, he was a member of the five-person fundraising team for the Building a Competitive Advantage Campaign, with a public goal of $90 million. He also was primarily responsible for the project evaluation for the addition of Skyboxes and Club Level seating to Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field. Among his other responsibilities, Jones served as an Annual Fund and Major Gift fundraiser for Georgia Tech throughout the southeast United States.

Jones, a native of Conyers, Georgia, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations, with a minor in history and health care communications, in 2000 from Ohio University. While at Ohio, he was a three-year letterwinner and senior captain for the Bobcats.  During Jones' four-year career, the Ohio football program had its most successful period in over 30 years. After Jones' collegiate career, he had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League.