One of
Austin Cooper's biggest fans doesn't like to sit up in the stands. He prefers to sit down the left base line, so he can watch his son in the outfield.
"He's there every game," he said. "He sits down the left field line, he's done that ever since I was ten."
Like his son, Jeff Cooper played baseball at OBU for Head Coach
Bobby Cox. Because his dad played at OBU, Cooper grew up attending baseball camps on campus and knew most of the coaches.
"I've grown up knowing Coach Cox and knowing the coaches," he said. "When I was a kid I was always up here at the camps and everything."
Getting to OBU however was not part of the plan, until just before his freshman year of college was set to begin.
"I was originally going to go to a junior college in Texas," he said. "And then about halfway through the summer, going into freshman year in college, the head coach down there called me and said he took another job."
Not wanting to start out with a coach he didn't know Cooper said he waited to see if the assistant coach at the college would take over.
"I told the assistant coach that if he got the job I would stay and I would go there," he said. "He told me he was going to try to interview for it, and then he texted me about two weeks later and told me that he didn't get the job."
With this news, Cooper decided to give OBU a call.
"I called OBU because they had originally offered me and told me I could come here," he said. "I called them back and I was like 'hey is there any way I can come play here?'"
Cooper said the coaches were happy to have him, and soon he was getting ready to head to his dad's old alma mater.
"I thought it was kind of cool because my dad played here for Coach Cox," he said.
Cooper's dad was also an outfielder for OBU, and has talked a little about his career.
"He's told me about his four career home runs that he had," he said. "And how he's leading the household in home runs at OBU."
All joking aside, Cooper said his father started out as a redshirt at OBU due to an injury his first year.
"As redshirt sophomore I think is when he started in left field," he said.
Unlike his dad Cooper jokes his bunting ability needs some work.
"Coach Cox always tells me I need to work on my bunting, if I bunted like my dad I'd hit over three hundred," he said.
Before OBU, and since coming, Cooper's baseball career has been met with much success, starting in high school. Cooper originally started out as a three sport athlete, playing football, basketball, and baseball. Eventually, however, Cooper gave up the other two to focus on baseball, and he said it paid off.
"We won the 2015 state championship, first ever in Shawnee school history," he said. "All four years of high school though I went to the state championship three times. So we were pretty successful."
Already sporting a high school championship ring, Cooper said he was happy to add a college one to match.
"Last year we won the national championship at OBU, so that was pretty awesome going back-to-back years with a championship ring," he said.
Throughout his entire baseball career Cooper said his dad was always pushing him to keep improving, and attributes that as the reason for his success.
"He's definitely been hard on me my whole life, and I think that's kind of been beneficial throughout my whole entire career," he said. "Even if I have a good game, there's something I can do better; and even though sometimes it gets irritating and we clash, I know that it's better for me that way and it's made me a better person and a better player."
Despite the pressure of knowing his dad is watching, Cooper said he wouldn't have it any other way.
"That's the main reason why I love him, because he's just like me," he said.
Aside from his dad, Cooper said he enjoys playing baseball at OBU because of the way the coaches treat their players.
"I know that they're really, really good human beings," he said. "They're not just coaches, they're not just there to coach baseball, they care about you on a personal level and how you do off the field."
As Cooper's sophomore year of baseball winds down he said he hopes the team will make it back to the national championships. If they do, Cooper said his dad will most likely be watching, from his spot down the left base line.
