Mark Cooke enters his 25th
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 champion-
ship and NCAA Regional.
From 2007-09, Cooke’s teams
posted 90 total wins that included
victories over Georgia Tech, #18
Oregon State, Auburn, North Caro-
lina State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech,
Jacksonville State and Santa Clara.
In his career he’s compiled over
600 victories and has a career re-
cord of 695-645-3. Cooke surpassed
650 wins in 2009 when the Lady
Eagles won 9-3 at Coastal Carolina
on April, 25. In his 24 seasons at
Winthrop he’s compiled a record of
653-666-3. 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).
The 27-year veteran head
coach has been named the Big
South Conference Coach of the
Year in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Over
the course of his 27 years coaching
at the collegiate level he’s compiled
a record of 739-713-3.
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 Confer-
ence Tournament on May 12, 2006.
In 2008, Cooke surpassed the
600 win mark. The Lady Eagles
swept Vermont on Mar. 12 to give
Cooke his 600th win.
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 Louisi-
ana University.
After seven years as Lady Eagle
volleyball coach, he turned over
those duties to concentrate on soft-
ball.
Throughout his career as head
softball coach he’s produced nine
30-plus win seasons, 91 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, three 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 Academ-
ic All-America Selections by Capital
One or ESPN The Magazine/Co-
SIDA .
Cooke has 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, age
21, and Noah,age 14.
