CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Long-time Northeast basketball coach Al Cooper has been placed on paid leave pending an investigation.
Cooper, 48,has been a teacher and worked as a coach for almost two decades with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School system.
The nature of the investigation is unknown at this time and Elise Shelton, director of communications for CMCSS, said the school system did not have any further comment except he was reassigned pending the conclusion of the investigation.
According to a letter, effective Sept. 23, Cooper would be at his home during normal business hours and available by phone. He is expected to provide lesson plans for the substitute teacher during his time on leave.
A message to the district attorney’s office has not been returned at this time.
Al Cooper has led Northeast’s varsity boys basketball program for the past 16 years. He’ll be entering his 17th season as the head coach. In addition to his handful of District 10-AAA regular season and tournament championships, he also guided the Eagles to the region title in 2009-10.
The previous season, he won his first-ever Class AAA sectional and guided Northeast to its first ever Class AAA state basketball tournament in Murfreesboro. Northeast earned a return trip to state the next year. Both seasons saw Cooper’s team reach the state semifinal, one step away from a state championship game appearance.
During the past seven years, no boys’ basketball program in Clarksville has won more games than Northeast. Cooper has guided Northeast to a 146-62 record since 2007-08. Clarksville High is the closest team to those win totals with 117 victories during that span. Cooper has also won 76 District 10 games during that time period, capturing four league tournament crowns, including three in a row from 2007-09. Throughout his head coaching career at Northeast, Cooper has amassed more than 310 victories.
Cooper was awarded the A.F. Bridges Award for Athletic District 5 Male Coach of the Year in November of 2010 for his team’s 2009-10 season in which the Eagles captured the district tournament and region tournament titles while advancing to state.
But Cooper has also had his share of trouble. He was arrested for an incident in September 2009 when he was charged with domestic assault and making harassing phone calls.
In his personnel file at CMCSS, had two minor reprimands for neglect of duty.
In February 2006, he was verbally reprimanded for canceling basketball practice and not staying with the students until they had all been picked up, according to the record.
In May 2009, Cooper failed to meet a contractual obligation and was reprimanded.
His brother, Andrew was the head basketball coach at Northwest High. He pleaded guilty to the July 2007 murder of his ex-wife Pamela Cooper.
Al Cooper has not been charged with any crime at this time.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
