Cooper heading back home
Tolman graduate returning to coach softball program
A little of this, a little of that …
•A touch of spring is in the air this week and immediately our thoughts turn to outdoor interscholastic sports that will be up and running before you know it.
Before the weather degrades back to normal temperatures for this time of year, let’s bring everyone up to speed and share some coaching news on the local softball and baseball front.
At Tolman High, there’s a new sheriff running the softball program whose Tiger ties extend deep. Scott Cooper, Tolman Class of 1987, is realizing one of his goals after spending a decade as head coach at Davies Tech. Cooper succeeds Craig Giarrusso, who left to take over the softball reins at Mount Hope.
A story detailing Cooper working as an on-field audio engineer on Patriots’ game days at Gillette Stadium appeared on the front page of this very paper the day before New England beat Jacksonville in the AFC Championship. What that article didn’t mention was Cooper’s deep love and respect for Tolman, where he played three years of football, three years of hockey, and two years of baseball.
“I bled for that school and always wanted to go back and coach,” said Cooper. “The reason I got into coaching at the high-school level was to hopefully someday coach at my alma mater.”
Once the Tolman position became available, Cooper submitted a résumé that at Davies included a 2012 Division III state championship and a 2015 Division II-North crown.
“When I got the call, I really couldn’t believe it. I had to ask again and the answer was, ‘Yes, you are the Tolman head softball coach,’” said Cooper. “It was a great run at Davies and I will treasure all that we accomplished, but to finally come back home, I’m stoked! I can’t wait to get started.”
What makes the news even more special is that Cooper’s assistant will be daughter Madison, a former softball standout at Davies Tech who went on to become an all-regional player at CCRI. Presently a junior at Johnson & Wales where she’s studying sports management, Madison elected to forgo her final two years of playing eligibility to start her coaching career.
As for her dad, Scott Cooper plans to start a Tolman Alumni Softball Game that raises proceeds for cancer. He also would like to reinstate the Tolman-St. Raphael softball rivalry. The odds seem favorable to achieve that since former Davies assistant Joe Handy has joined the SRA ranks as an assistant to head coach Ron LaBree.
• One more tidbit on the softball coaching front. Mo Jackson, who guided the St. Raphael program to six state titles before later moving over to Shea, has been hired as the head coach of the La Salle Academy program. As recent as last year, Jackson was the pitching coach at Fall River’s Durfee High.
“We look forward to having coach Jackson bring his experience and knowledge of the game to the students at La Salle,” said Donald Kavanagh, principal of La Salle.
• Switching to the high school baseball front, Henry Coleman is joining Mount St. Charles as an assistant to head coach Paul Jacques. Already the boys’ basketball head coach at MSC, Coleman spent the previous several years as a baseball assistant at Shea.
At Lincoln High, Burrillville native Shawn McConnell has been tabbed as assistant under first-year head coach Vin Zibelli. McConnell played college baseball at Franklin Pierce University and Castleton State before injuries cut short his career.
• A look back at the area’s 1,000-point basketball scorers from this season and when they reached the feat: Tyler Kolek (Cumberland boys, Jan. 16), Alyissia O’Hagan (Woonsocket girls, Jan. 17), Steve Goulet (North Smithfield boys, Feb. 2), Erickson Bans (Shea boys, Feb. 7), Jackson Zancan (Cumberland boys, Feb. 8), and Ethan Savoie (North Smithfield boys, Feb. 8).
Congrats to you all. omore, catcher). At Boston College, you have Dante Baldelli (Cumberland, sophomore, outfield).
• Next Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., the Mount St. Charles boys basketball team will host the R.I. Army National Guard for an exhibition game to help raise money for Disabled American Veterans. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for students.
• Last week, the Red Sox announced that Cumberland native Mike Roose was promoted to Athletic Performance Coordinator/Major League Strength and Conditioning Coach. Roose has been in the Boston organization since 2010 and has spent the past three seasons as a strength & conditioning coach at the major-league level.
• We do have a noteworthy local connection to this year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea. Woonsocket native and Mount St. Charles alum Brian Boucher is the “Inside the Glass” analyst for NBC’s Olympic hockey coverage.
• Citing a desire for more playing time, Lincoln native Jack Bacon is taking his soccer goaltending talents from Boston College to Division III Endicott College. Bacon will have three years of eligibility at his new school after redshirting his freshman year at BC. Last fall, Bacon came off the bench and earned “clean sheet” status in a scoreless draw at N.C. State.
• Cumberland's Ben Drezek and sister Abby saw their names appear on the America East Fall Honor Roll that was released earlier this week. Just as noteworthy, they were two of 12 UMass Lowell student-athletes to earn a 4.0 grade-point average in the fall 2017 semester. Drezek is a freshman distance runner for the River Hawks while Abby appeared in 15 games (11 starts) in her first season with the UML women’s soccer team.
• Spring training isn’t just for the players and coaches. It’s for broadcasters. too.
Josh Maurer and Will Flemming, who will return for their fourth season together on the Pawtucket Red Sox Radio Network, are slated to broadcast Boston Red Sox spring training games on WEEI-AM (850) from March 1-2, March 4, and March 6-7. Flemming will be working with a TBD partner on March 5 and March 8-9.
• Speaking of Maurer and Flemming, this season you’ll hear them call PawSox action on WHJJ’s new 104.7 FM signal in addition to the traditional 920 AM frequency.
• News about the newest inductees into the PawSox Hall of Fame will be revealed shortly. One player will be chosen and figures to come from the group of last year’s finalists – Fred Lynn, Roger Clemens, and Nomar Garciaparra.
• Here’s hoping that Pawtucket native and St. Raphael alum T.J. Sorrentine merits strong consideration for the men’s basketball head coaching vacancy at Bryant. Sorrentine has been an assistant coach at Brown since 2007.
• Best of luck to Bryce Brentz, the former PawSox slugger who received a fresh start and a clearer path to regular major-league work when the Red Sox traded the 29-year-old outfielder to Pittsburgh earlier this week. Brentz was always gracious with his time during the regular season and the offseason. One thing I’ll be looking forward to is seeing how his toe-tap approach at the plate translates to the bigs – something we all could have been witnesses to last September had Boston got creative and added him to the 40-man roster.
• With the current high-school basketball playoff format featuring plenty of built-in days, one must wonder why the regular season was jam-packed in the fashion that it was. Teams like the Cumberland High boys sat around for eight days before getting back to work. With that in mind, it might be a bad idea to extend the regular season an additional week in an effort to avoid lengthy layoffs once the script is flipped to the postseason.