Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Another Name for Dad: Coach
6/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 18, 2001
by Bob Gosman
Boca Raton News
FAU junior Jim Cooney enjoyed a successful career pitching for West Morris Central High School in New Jersey.
However, FAU baseball coach Kevin Cooney rarely got to see him pitch.
That is why the summer after Jim Cooney's junior year of high school was so special. Jim Cooney and his younger brother Jeff always spent the summer with their father in Boca Raton, but this time Kevin Cooney consistently got to watch his oldest son pitch for the Coral Springs Pokers.
"Watching Jim pitch made for one of the most enjoyable summers of my life," Kevin Cooney said.
Jim Cooney enjoyed it as well, so much that he would up signing with FAU out of high school.
After two seasons of spot duty, he made considerable progress this season. Although he was not as consistent as he would have liked, he still went 3-0 with a 5.13 ERA as the Owls' first left-handed pitcher out of the bullpen.
Three years ago, it was not a given Jim Cooney would play for FAU. He gave serious thought of playing for his dad's alma mater, Montclair State.
This was one time where Kevin Cooney was rooting against his old school.
"I wanted him to be here from a baseball standpoint, and I also wanted him here so I could live the next four years of his life with him," Kevin Cooney said.
Jim Cooney ultimately decided FAU was the place for him.
While the Cooneys have had the natural ups and downs during the past three years. Father and son both agree Jim Cooney made the right choice.
"Since my parents got divorced, I only saw him during summers and holidays," Jim Cooney sad. "It's been a great experience to see him regularly."
A key to their success is that father and son agreed from the start that the coach's kid should get no preferential treatment.
"He's held to the same standard as everybody else," associate coach John McCormack said.
During a practice in January of Jim Cooney's freshman year, father and son began to realize how much fun this was going to be.
"January's the best time in the world here," Kevin Cooney said. "We had the music playing, he was shagging flies and I just asked him what in the world would he rather be doing than this. He just looked at me and smiled."
FAU's berths in the NCAA Regionals Jim Cooney's freshman and sophomore years provided father and son with a myriad of memories.
The most emotional came after UM eliminated FAU in 1999. That was the year the Owls tied an NCAA record by winning 34 consecutive games and becoming one of the most intriguing stories in college baseball.
After FAU was eliminated by UM in the regional, it took Cooney about 40 minutes to make his way to the Owls' bus.
"Every kid was on the bus by then except Jim," the elder Cooney said. "I put my arm around him, and he said, 'Sorry pops.' I just told him how glad I was that I didn't have to phone him about (the regional) because he was a part of this."
One year later at the same regional, Jim Cooney gave his father a different kind of memory.
The Holiday Inn FAU was staying at mistakenly delivered a fruit basket to Jim Cooney instead of Kevin Cooney.
The inevitable result of this clerical error was a fruit fight in the hallway of the hotel.
"My dad got a call that night asking why there were strawberries in the hall," Jim Cooney said. "He made us all write a one-page grammatically correct paper about why we shouldn't throw food in the hall. He got on everybody and had a lot of fun with it."
A not-so-fun moment is when the son is removed from a game by his father.
"It's not an easy thing to do," Kevin Cooney said. "If he's an outfielder you can just pinch-hit for him: it's more dramatic when he's a pitcher. But there's too much good to outweigh the bad."
Jim Cooney is a much different pitcher than he was three years ago.
He does not have overpowering stuff, but he's added a slider and throws considerably harder than he used to.
"I don't know if he's comfortable in his own skin yet," Kevin Cooney said. "He knows how to pitch and change speeds, but throwing harder made him a different pitcher."
His added velocity also gives him an outside chance to be drafted at the end of next year.
"I'd have to have a really good season, but it's always been a dream to get drafted," Jim Cooney said. "The backup to that is to get in the FBI and the third backup to that is to teach and coach."
Jim Cooney said that during his first three years at FAU, he and his father also have spent a lot of time together off the field.
"We're a lot alike," Jim Cooney said. "He brainwashed me early, so we're both Bruce Springsteen fans. We like the Yankees and have the same sense of humor."
This experience has been so positive for Kevin Cooney that he might not be done coaching Cooney's.
He proudly points out that Jim's younger brother Jeff, who just completed his sophomore year of high school, is the only Cooney who earned a varsity letter in high school baseball before his junior season.
