Roosevelt Cooper Jr. enters his second season as the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Elizabeth City State.
In his first season, Cooper Jr. led the program to their highest overall win total and CIAA win total since 2010-11. The Vikings finished fifth in the CIAA standings, the highest since the 2010 season. Cooper Jr. would guide the No. 1 Viking’s player, Reichel Freytes, to an All-CIAA selection.
Cooper Jr. spent the previous two seasons (2022-24) as the Assistant Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at Virginia State helping the Trojans to a 23-11 overall record and 17-5 mark in CIAA play on the women’s side. The women were name CIAA Northern Division Champions during the 2022-23 season and appeared in the Atlantic Region top-10 for most of the season.
Prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Cooper Jr. coached at Indian River HS in 2021 helping the program post their first winning season in a decade with a 6-3 overall record and qualifying for the VHSL Regionals for the first time in school history.
Cooper Jr. worked for the Hampton Road Area Sports Club, developing over 15 tournament champions, with three players achieving a top-300 national ranking in junior tennis, along with a VHSL State Champion in 2022.
Prior to coaching, Cooper Jr. played on the Futures and Challengers Circuit, making it into the Top 500 USTA Men’s Tennis National Rankings, at position #351 from 2013-2016. During this time, he was also nominated to be a hitting partner for The Citi Open 500 event where he trained with Sloane Stephens, Grigor Dmitrov, Wayne Odesnik, Michael Russell, Marco Chuidinelli, Robert Farah, Sam Groth, Magdaléna Rybáriková, Ekaterina Makarova, and Heather Watson.
The Washington, D.C. native would play collegiately at Norfolk State, where he posted an undefeated doubles record in his final season. Cooper Jr. was named MEAC All-Academic in 2012. He attended Woodrow Wilson HS where he helped lead the team to finalist stature three times at the DIAA Championships.
Cooper Jr. received his bachelors degree in Computer Science from Norfolk State in 2012.
