Kevin Cooney dreamed of being a Major League Baseball player from his first experience at Yankee Stadium. As he and his father drove by the ballpark after watching a game, Cooney, then a New Jersey youth, said, "Someday I'm going to play there."
The dream didn't subside as years passed. Cooney became a star pitcher at Montclair State University, where he garnered an impressive 18-3 record and 2.35 ERA. In his third and final collegiate season in 1972, Cooney led the RedHawks to their first ever NCAA Division III Regional appearance.
Still, Cooney eyed the big leagues. Climbing to that level was his "driving force" and primary motivation.
"While I was in college," Cooney said, "that's really all I thought about."
In 1972, the Minnesota Twins gave Cooney even more to think about: They selected him in the 11th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft. Cooney spent two seasons in the minor leagues, inching closer than ever to the major league career he prayed for.
Then Cooney suffered a devastating shoulder injury, forcing the Twins to release him on April 8, 1974. Suddenly, his dream was no longer a possibility. Â
"That was a really, really hard time," Cooney said. "It was a real turning point in my life."
Cooney returned to New Jersey to finish his education but wasn't the same person. He couldn't bear the sight of baseball, declining to watch games for a year. And he spent even more time away from church.
"I turned away from the two gods in my life," Cooney said. "I turned away from baseball and I turned away from my faith."
But one day Cooney heard bats and balls flying near his house and walked toward the sounds. Cooney discovered it was a semi-pro practice and then began talking with the league's coordinator. Their conversation proved fruitful, as Cooney became the team's coach that summer.
After two years there Cooney landed an assistant coaching job at his alma mater, Montclair State, in 1975. Cooney earned a combined $350 over the 1975 and '76 seasons, but the pay was immaterial. He says working under his "legendary" former skipper, Clary Anderson, "was too much to turn down."
Through that experience, Cooney realized coaching was the "next best thing" to being a Yankee. Especially collegiately.
"I developed a mindset early on that the absolute greatest time of your life is going to be those four years that you play together in college," said Cooney, who was part of consecutive postseason appearances as a Montclair State assistant. "You'll never, ever duplicate that camaraderie, that brotherhood, that struggle, the elation, the depths of despair when you lose. You're never going to find that elsewhere."
Anderson stepped down after the '76 season, so Cooney left to teach and coach at the high school level. Cooney succeeded there, too, and began applying for college head coaching jobs in the early 1980s.
But colleges didn't reciprocate his interest immediately.
In 1983 Cooney says one "bottom-of-the-barrel" program didn't even interview him, causing him to feel "so depressed." A friend advised him to call the college's athletic director and ask why, and the answer gave Cooney hope. The AD told Cooney he was overqualified for the position and thought he could leave for a better job after the season.
The next day, Cooney read about then-coach Fred Hill leaving Montclair State. Cooney called Hill to ask about the position, and Hill suggested he take it – for a limited time, that is. The idea was for Cooney to coach the team that fall, allowing the program to carry its coaching search into the spring.
To say Cooney was surprised would be an understatement.
"I was taken aback by the idea," Cooney said.
Cooney reviewed his high-school teaching schedule, saw seventh period free and thought "I could swing" that duty and college coaching simultaneously.
But it wouldn't be easy. Cooney's high school principal didn't enjoy him leaving campus early, so he had to "sneak out." Cooney then raced to Montclair State practices and games with only minutes to spare.
"That part was a little challenging, but it was fun," said Cooney, a former history teacher. "It was a great time."
Cooney took over a reigning Division III Mid-Atlantic Championship team, making his coaching experience feel "like a pressure cooker." The university held high standards for the program and expected championship-level play.
The pressure didn't wilt Cooney, though, as he impressed enough that fall to earn the full-time position ahead of the 1984 season. And Cooney continued the program's winning tradition. He led the RedHawks to the Division III World Series in each of his four seasons with the team, winning it all his final year.
More than the actual championship, though, Cooney remembers calling recruits while in Marietta, Ohio for the game. Before then, Cooney thought the win would be the "culmination" of his life. Those conversations made him realize he was wrong.
"That was always the hard thing in baseball: You didn't have time to enjoy the moment because you're thinking about the next year," Cooney said. Â
"I'm like, I can't take a step backwards," he added. "I put that pressure on myself, I suppose. But it was real, and it drove me, relentlessly – sometimes it made it less fun than it could have been, more difficult to enjoy it."
Looking for a change of scenery, Cooney applied for Duke University's coaching vacancy after the '87 season. But Steve Traylor, Florida Atlantic University's inaugural coach, got the job.
Cooney congratulated Traylor over the phone, then asked if the FAU job was available. Traylor, whose Owls competed against Cooney's RedHawks the year prior, told him it was "wide open." And Traylor said he'd recommend Cooney to FAU's president and athletic director over a round of golf that day.
"I don't even know if I would've applied if he hadn't have said that," Cooney said.
Traylor's recommendation and Cooney's initiative paid dividends: Cooney became FAU's skipper in 1988. Like Cooney's last job, though, expectations were high. Traylor led the Owls to 40-plus wins in five of his six seasons, including an NCAA Division II playoff appearance in 1985.
And amid the pressure Cooney delivered. He led the Owls to the Division II NCAA Regionals in 1993, then helped them transition to Division I in '94. Cooney's squad upset top-seeded FIU 1-0 in the 1995 TAAC Championship, its first year of postseason eligibility. Â
"I remember saying to them, before that championship game started, win or lose, you guys got us here faster than I ever thought we could get here," Cooney told the team's seniors before the FIU game.
Pitching injuries held FAU back in 1997 and '98, but everything clicked for Cooney's squad in 1999. Cooney says that was "the year that solidified everything" and "the most phenomenal season I think anybody could have ever had."
The Owls went 51-5 over the 1999 regular season, tying a Division I record with 34 straight wins. Cooney says then-assistant and recruiting coordinator
John McCormack acquired a "good mix" of high school and JUCO recruits, and that, combined with their anti-dictatorial coaching strategy, led to the miraculous run.
"We let the kids play, everything was put into perspective, kids were treated like human beings," Cooney said. "We had high expectations for them, and we tried to develop them as men, and I think it worked."
Cooney and his team rolled all season, but they didn't realize they were winning at a historic rate until "very, very late" in their streak. It entered their daily consciousness when reporters told Cooney they were close to breaking UCF's in-state record of 29 straight wins. Â
Once Cooney heard the news, he adopted two superstitions: He frequently ate the same tomato, lettuce and Italian dressing sandwich from a now-shuttered local restaurant and cut out dinnertime beer. But as Cooney's diet changed, his team's attitude never wavered. Â
"We're coming out and were going to crush people," said Cooney, whose "bomb squad" of replacement players earned ample playing time over the blowout-ridden season. "That was just the attitude this team had."
The Owls' historic 1999 season paved the way for many others. They reached the NCAA Regionals that year and five out of the next six under Cooney's leadership, including a run of four straight from 2002-2005. Cooney also led the team to three ASUN Championships.
After the '08 season, Cooney retired after 21 illustrious years with the program. FAU Athletics inducted him into its Hall of Fame four years later.
Cooney and his wife, Mary Beth, moved to Sweetwater, Tennessee shortly after his retirement. Mary Beth grew up in the state and her parents owned 200 acres of farmland in Sweetwater, so Cooney decided to build a home there.
"Every time we would spend time here, there was a peace that came over her," Cooney said of his wife. "I knew this is where she would really want to be."
But Cooney didn't share his wife's sentiment his first day in Tennessee. Â
Cooney says he, along with a construction-savvy partner, bought a "run-down" triplex, but the partner "ran out" on him before the project's completion. That left Cooney, who "didn't know anything" about construction, on the roof trying to fix a drain on college baseball's Opening Day, one he's used to cherishing.
"I'm on the roof like and I'm like, 'What am I doing here?'" said Cooney, who wished McCormack luck in his head-coaching debut that morning. "It was one of the [lowest] days of my life. I'm on the roof and I'm like, 'I could fall off here, no one would even know.' I'm in the country somewhere and I'd be dead. I should be on the field."
Dejected, Cooney packed his tools and headed home. But on his way, he drove to Knoxville's Lindsey Nelson Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols were battling Oregon State, and Cooney's hunger for baseball drew him toward the gate.
Cooney paid admission to a college baseball game for the first time ever that day. And as he walked to his seat, Cooney felt as exhilarated as he was a child at Yankee Stadium.
"I stood there and I'm like, 'Oh, my God. What did I do?" Cooney said. "I walked away from all this.'"
For decades, Cooney's life revolved around baseball. He "couldn't imagine a better way to spend your life" than in the sport. Then, suddenly, its absence felt heavier than ever. Â
But the next morning, as he watched snow trickle on his family's way to Mass, Cooney's mindset flipped.
"I'm with my family instead of not being able to go to Mass, and I realized I made the right decision," Cooney said. "So, that helped, but that first night was a really hard night."
Growing accustomed to life in Tennessee, Cooney passed an antique store while driving his wife to lunch. Cooney was enamored with the historic building and wanted to buy it, even as his wife reminded him, "you don't know anything about antiques, and you know less about business."
Cooney bought the store anyway, in October 2010, and renamed it Cooney's Corner Antiques. Business was successful and Cooney enjoyed conversing with people from the community, but something was missing. And it wasn't money, as he says, "the value of my day was never measured financially."
"It wasn't like it was a hard job, but it was empty," Cooney said. "And each year got worse."
As a coach, Cooney imparted his knowledge and wisdom to hundreds of young players looking for direction. He impacted lives. In business, though, he felt that wasn't possible.
However, in February of 2014, an opportunity for Cooney to make a difference arose. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lenoir City, Tennessee approached Cooney about him running a faith-based sports program there. Cooney happily accepted the job and got someone else to manage his antique store.
But his role changed five months later. The church needed a new youth minister, and Cooney, despite having trepidations, was his boss' choice.
"I'm like, 'I don't know any of this stuff,'" Cooney said. "I was hired to do sports, and I could pick out some bible verses, do something with the kids. But to be a youth minister, I didn't know enough about my faith. I had walked away from my faith, and my wife got me back to it."
Cooney's boss tasked him with implementing Life Teen at the church, a high-school program that, according to its website, "strengthens our teens' Catholic identity, while rooting them firmly in Christ and in His Church."
Hoping to learn more about the program, Cooney attended a Life Teen conference in Atlanta. And it was there, at a pre-lunch Mass, when he figured out helping the youth through faith was his true calling. Cooney began crying as he heard the words, "Your life's been spring training, now the season's starting," ring through his head.
Over the last six years, Cooney has impacted lives through youth ministry. He says it's the "greatest thing to ever happen to me." And with two people – one a teenage girl who's now heading to college and another a father of two – telling Cooney that his program's work kept them from taking their own lives, he's not alone in that thought.
"It's just turned my life completely around, made me a better person, given me so much more than I ever gave to anybody else or thought I'd be providing," Cooney said.
Cooney's church started with Life Teen, but Cooney convinced his boss to add Edge, a middle-school program, soon after. The traditional classroom format, Cooney thought, couldn't quite hold the middle schoolers' attention. Edge is far from traditional, and Cooney believes that helps him get his message across.
"We do a lot of stuff that's fun, and then you slip Jesus into it and they don't even realize it," Cooney said. "You go from playing egg roulette, where you're smashing eggs over your face; or cheese-puff face, where you're throwing cheese puffs on a face covered in whipped cream; to all of a sudden you're in a very prayerful, talking mode and you're bringing it all to them as far as, 'OK, this is how Jesus impacts what's going on in your life today.' And they get really quiet and they listen, and it's really effective.
"I love it," he added. "I never feel like it's work."
Although Cooney loves his job, he's retiring in August. He'll be 70 then, which in his view gives him 10 more years of optimal health to spend with his family.
But while Cooney won't be doing things like jumping out of boxes in unicorn onesies like he did in the youth ministry, he still hopes to make a difference through faith post-retirement. Cooney's considering volunteering with those who aged out of his youth groups, as he believes "young people need an adult that they can trust and talk to" into their early 20s.
Through baseball coaching and faith-based mentorship, Cooney has impacted young people's lives at a level he knows the Major League career he prayed for wouldn't have provided. Cooney never played in Yankee Stadium, but he realizes it was for a reason far bigger than himself.
"It makes me realize that I was blessed beyond measure," Cooney said. "I realized that God did answer my prayer."
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