Rock Hill, S.C. – Former Winthrop head softball and volleyball coach Mark Cooke passed away Monday morning.
Cooke was the longest tenured head coach in the history of the softball program, leading the Eagles for 29 seasons. He is one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the Big South Conference. Cooke was voted Big South Coach of the Year three times. He guided the program to four Big South Conference regular season championships, four Big South Championships and two NCAA Regional appearances.
In 2018 he retired after 34 years of coaching collegiate softball. In 2019 he was inducted into the Winthrop Hall of Fame. He retired as the Big South's all-time leader in victories (767), regular season league wins (218) and Big South tournament wins (53). In 29 season he led the team to the Big South Tournament championship game 11 times. He is 1-of-2 coaches in the history of the league to guide his team to a 50-win season. In 2007 the Eagles posted a school record of 50 wins and reached the NCAA Regional final at Tennessee. Over his collegiate career he captured over 850 victories.
Over his career the program produced a large number of honors: 102 all-conference selections, 54 voted to Big South All-Tournament Team, 11 All-Region Team, Six Big South Tournament MVP's, Five Big South Conference Player of the Year, Four Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year, Four Big South Rookie/Freshman of the Year, Four Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America selections and one NFCA All-American. There were three Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar selections (Janiva Willis, Stephanie Reid, Tessa Thomas) and an NCAA Women of the Year finalist (Willis).
When Cooke began his career at Winthrop University, he led the softball and the volleyball program. He was the head coach of the volleyball program from 1990-96.
Cooke has been elected for induction into the Big South Conference Hall of Fame as part of the soon-to-be-announced 2024 class.
Cooke is survived by his wife April and son's Seth and Noah.
A service will be held on Saturday, May 20 at West End Baptist Church (1727 McConnells Hwy) at 3 p.m. with a visitation to follow.
