Jim Cooper enters his ninth season as the specialists coach at Rowan in 2022, providing the Profs with experience from his own collegiate and high school playing career.
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Cooper has been the owner and operator of 5 Star Kicking for 30-plus years, running the professional placekicking, punting and long snapping school in Berlin, NJ. He has served as the kicking coach at his alma mater, Mainland Regional High School.
While at Rowan, Cooper was responsible for coaching two-time All-Conference kicker Tyler Knighton, who ended his career (2014-17) with eight school records, including the highest PAT percentage (93.2), consecutive PATs made in a career (33), and points scored by kicking in a game (15). Knighton also owns the marks for field goals made in a game (4), season (12) and career (37), and field goal attempts in a career (49) and highest field goal percentage in a season (75.0). In 2017, Knighton was chosen the Rowan Player of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Southern New Jersey and competed in the D3 Senior Classic.
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Cooper, a 1987 graduate of Temple University with a degree in marketing, was a four-year letterwinner there. He kicked for the Owls and has two last-second field goals among his career highlights, converting the kicks against the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University.
He had a professional tryout with the Oakland Raiders in 1991 and played for the Atlantic City Cardsharks of the National Indoor Football League.
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A native of Somers Point, NJ, Cooper earned All-Conference, All-County and All-State honors as a kicker and punter at Mainland Regional.
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