Kerry Cooks (born March 28, 1974) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player.

Biography

Cooks was born on March 28, 1974 in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, where he was a team captain on the football team, and is married with two children. Cooks was inducted into the

Irving Independent School District Irving Independent School District is a school district based in Irving, Texas (USA). The district, which covers , serves most of the city of Irving, except for Valley Ranch and a portion of Las Colinas. The district also serves small porti ...

Hall of Fame Class of 2013.

Professional playing career

Cooks was originally drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

in 1998 and later that year signed and played with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He would also play with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

before retiring from the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

before playing with the

Chicago Enforcers The Chicago Enforcers were a short-lived American football team based at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American ...

of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

in 2001.

Coaching career

After having coached at the high school level, Cooks joined the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as c ...

as a graduate assistant in 2003. He later coached defensive backs at

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Cooks spent four seasons at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

coaching defensive backs. From 2010–2014, he served as secondary coach at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

(adding the role of Co-defensive Coordinator in 2012). In 2015, Cooks was hired by

Bob Stoops Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960) is an American football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through the 2016 season, and on an interim basis during the 2021 Alamo Bowl. He led the Oklahoma ...

to become the secondary coach at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

. In 2019, he joined

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

as safeties coach. In 2022 he went to LSU as the team’s safeties coach.

References

External links

Oklahoma profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooks, Kerry 1974 births Living people American football defensive backs Atlanta Falcons players Chicago Enforcers players Green Bay Packers players Iowa Hawkeyes football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Kansas State Wildcats football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Western Illinois Leathernecks football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Sportspeople from Dallas Players of American football from Dallas African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Biography

Professional playing career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links