Mark Cooke is in his 28th year as head coach of the Winthrop University softball team.
Cooke, a 1989 graduate of USC Spartanburg, has turned the Lady Eagle softball program into a nationally competitive team. With back-to-back Big South Conference Championships in 2007 and 2008, Cooke and his staff turned in two of the best seasons in school history.
In 2007 he guided the team to a co-championship of the regular season with Liberty, a conference tournament championship and the school’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In 2008, the team followed up with another regular season championship with a 14-1 record in the league, another conference tournament championship and NCAA Regional.
From 2007-09, Cooke’s teams posted 90 total wins that included victories over Georgia Tech, #18 Oregon State, Auburn, North Carolina State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Jacksonville State and Santa Clara.
In his career he’s compiled over 800 victories and has a career record of 806-807-3. His 800th victory came on Mar. 9, 2016 in a 3-2 victory over UNC Wilmington at home. Cooke surpassed 750 wins on Mar. 9, 2015 when the Eagles defeated Marist, 5-3. In his 27 seasons at Winthrop he’s compiled a record of 723-760-3. His 650th victory at Winthrop came on May 9, 2013 in the Big South Tournament as the Eagles upset 4th-seeded Radford 4-1. He has 184 Big South Conference regular season victories and is two away from becoming the all-time leader. He became the all-time leader in wins in Big South history on Mar. 20 in a 9-5 win over Presbyterian College, passing Coastal Carolina’s Jess Dannelly (669).
The 32-year veteran head coach has been named the Big South Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007 and 2008. He led the Lady Eagles Big South Championships in 1990, 1991, 2007 and 2008. The team has finished runner-up six times (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2013).
He reached the 400-career win mark with a semi-final victory over Coastal Carolina in the 2002 conference tournament. In 2005 he reached his 500th victory at home against Furman on April, 21. Cooke coached his 1,000th career game in a 4-3 victory over Birmingham-Southern in the Big South Conference Tournament on May 12, 2006.
Prior to his arrival at Winthrop in the dual role of head volleyball and softball coach, Cooke served a brief stint as an assistant at Spartanburg Methodist before taking over the head coaching reins of the USCS softball team. In three seasons at USC Spartanburg, Cooke compiled an 84-49 record with all of his teams finishing no lower than third place in the NAIA District 6.
On two occasions, Cooke’s teams enjoyed rankings in the Top 20. Cooke then spent a year as an assistant coach at Northeast Louisiana University.
After seven years as Lady Eagle volleyball coach, he turned over those duties to concentrate on softball.
Throughout his career as head softball coach he’s produced nine 30-plus win seasons, 94 All-Big South selections, 52 All-Tournament selections, six BSC tournament MVPs, 11 All-Region selections, five Big South Players of the Year, four Big South Scholar Athletes of the Year, four Big South Rookies of the Year, an NFCA All-American, and two First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selections. There have also been four Academic All-America Selections by Capital One or ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA .
Cooke played fast-pitch extensively over the years. Since he began playing in 1981, he has been a member of teams that have captured eight state titles and four regional crowns.
He is married to the former April Haimbaugh of Niles, MI. They are the parents of two sons, Seth and Noah.
