UW defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks was one of approximately 40 coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners to attend the 2008 NCAA Minority Coaches Forum in Phoenix, Ariz. last week. The forum features discussions and seminars to help minority coaches see what it is like to be a head coach in college football.
The meetings are designed to educate minority coaches from all across the country on the ins and outs of being a head coach at the college level. Topics covered in discussions included “Off the Field Skills,
” “Getting to the Next Level,
” “The Interview Process,
” “Putting it all Together,
” “Getting There,
” and “The Road Ahead.
”
“There were a lot of things that were new to me,
” said Cooks. “As a position coach you get caught up in the Xs and Os of your team and your guys, while as a head coach you have a lot more on your plate.
”
Athletic directors, conference commissioners, media personnel, player agents and others were all on hand at the forum helping the coaches see and understand all the other aspects of football that a head coach has to deal with on a daily basis.
“It really opened my eyes to a lot of different things that guys like coach Bielema go through,
” said Cooks. “As a head coach at this level you are like a CEO of a company as you spend only a small amount of your time with the actual playbook and execution. Most of your time is spent running the program as a whole while addressing media issues, problems with players or their families, speaking obligations, boosters and fans.
”
After seeing a whole other side of coaching at the forum, Cooks is excited to both use the newly adapted knowledge and transform the way he looks at the operations of a football team.
“From now on I will be thinking on a different level when it comes to the football team,
” said Cooks. “Whether I’m in a meeting, coaching the defensive backs or on the road recruiting, I am going to do a better job of looking at the big picture. I want to take everything in a different light and understand why something is happening the way it is.
”
Cooks will be entering his third year as the defensive backs coach at Wisconsin this fall. He was a four-year letterwinner at Iowa and spent four years in the NFL (Minnesota, Green Bay, Atlanta and Jacksonville) after being drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings in 1998. Cooks began coaching at his high school alma mater, Nimitz High (Texas), in 2003 before joining the staff at Kansas State as a graduate assistant for the 2003 campaign. He then spent a year at both Western Illinois and Minnesota prior to Wisconsin.
