A note from the desk of Coach Cooper

The 2010-2011 Buff Basketball team officially begins practice tomorrow. We had our last day of individuals yesterday, and we feel that our team is just as excited to start as we are. I am extremely proud of our team for the effort that they put in the preseason this fall. It takes really mature teams to understand that working hard this time of the year leads to championships in March.

As a staff we have been working hard to figure out what we want to do offensively and defensively this year to help this team achieve its maximum potential. We feel like this could be one of the most athletic teams we have had at West Texas A&M in a very long time. We will have a few scrimmages as we prepare for our opening game, but have less than a month until we play Emporia & Newman in Bartlesville. We hope to efficiently use the time we have from now until then to improve as a basketball team. Our focus as a team is to improve each day!

I have had tremendous support from our entire coaching staff. Vinay Patel is going on his 6 ^th year with me on the coaching staff. He truly believes in what we do as a program and has a strong loyalty to me and this University. K.C. Beard is in his 2^nd year as a graduate assistant. He will complete his MBA in May here at West Texas A&M University. K.C. is beyond his years as a coach, and has a bright future ahead of him! Chris Tucker is in his first year on our bench as a coach! He is making the difficult transition from being a player to a coach. Wayne Parker and Austin Dunham are also in their second year as student assistants. They are a vital asset to the success of our program! I would like to personally thank all of my staff for the hard work and time they have put into this program. I have always said, “a coach is only as good as the people he puts around him,” and I feel like we have one of the top staffs in the country.