Louis Joseph "L. J." "Doc" Cooke (February 15, 1868 – August 19, 1943) was the first head men’s basketball coach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He coached the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball team for 28 seasons. Cooke also served as the university’s

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

for a time and is responsible for the creation of Little Brown Jug tradition between Minnesota and the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

, the longest existing traveling trophy tradition in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. Cooke came to Minnesota in 1895 to be the director of physical education for the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

after completing his

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at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

. His degree from Vermont led to his nickname of "Doc". He began to work with the University of Minnesota’s basketball program on a part-time basis in the 1896–97 season. In February 1897, the university agreed to pay part of Cooke’s salary, and he was employed by the school full-time by the fall of 1897.Hugunin and Thornley, pg. 6 This made him one of the earliest professional coaches. Cooke spent a couple of seasons building the program playing smaller schools in the Twin Cities and YMCA teams. By 1900, the university was largely playing other public universities in neighboring states. His Gopher teams were retroactively awarded the 1901–02 championship by both the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

and

Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

; Premo-Porretta also retroactively awarded the Gophers the 1902–03 national title. When the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

began basketball play in 1905, the Gophers were an early power, winning the first two regular season titles. They also won a disputed conference title in 1910–11 under Cooke; the Gophers and Big Ten official records list the Gophers’ conference record as 8–4, good enough for a tie for first place. Other sources, however, indicate that the Gophers’ record was only 7–4. The Big Ten indicates the Gophers as co-champion for the 1910–11 campaign, though, so they do officially hold the title. After several down seasons, L. J. Cooke again brought the Gophers to prominence near the end of his career. He led the team to the 1916–17 conference title. In 1918–19, he went on to have his greatest success as a coach. The Gophers went undefeated and were retroactively awarded national championships by both Helms and Premo-Porretta. Even more impressive, though, was the dominance shown by the Gophers in their wins. Eleven of their 13 wins were by ten points or more, in a low scoring era in which the Gophers averaged only 35.5 points per game and many teams hovered around 20 points per game. Cooke before the 1924–25 season opened after having coached at the program for 28 seasons. Cooke’s involvement in the development of basketball was significant. He helped significantly increase the prominence of basketball in the state of Minnesota.Perlstein, pg. 14 His role in making the University of Minnesota into the dominant basketball program in Minnesota was equally important. Cooke was one of the original members of the national rules committee on basketball and played a role in the evolution of the sport on a national stage. In addition to his tenure as

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach, Cooke was a long-time

and assistant athletic director at Minnesota. It was in this capacity that he came into possession of the Little Brown Jug, after Michigan left it behind following a road game against the Gophers football team. Cooke famously refused to return the trophy to the Wolverines, and the battle for the Little Brown Jug was born. Cooke stayed in this capacity – and Professor of Physical Education – after retiring as Gophers basketball coach. He retired from all involvement at the university in 1936. The Athletics Administration hall was named Cooke Hall in 1938. Cooke died on August 19, 1943, of a heart attack. Cooke’s career record is disputed, as completely accurate records from the early years of basketball do not exist. The Gophers Media Guide puts Cooke’s record at 250–135–2, with a .649 winning percentage. Mark Hugunin and Stew Thornley’s research disputes several seasons’ results based on box scores and newspaper clippings, and they put Cooke’s career record at 254–142–3, with a .640 winning percentage.Hugunin and Thornley, pg. 32 In ''Gopher Glory'', Steve Perlstein lists Cooke’s career record at 245–137–2 (.641), even though this book is published with some corroboration of the university itself. Accepting any records of these as correct, however, shows the great success that Cooke had at the program, and he is by far the winningest coach in Gophers basketball history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, L. J. 1868 births 1943 deaths Basketball coaches from Ohio Minnesota Golden Gophers athletic directors Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio University of Minnesota faculty University of Vermont alumni