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Cooper coaching the Buckeyes in 2000

Eric Albrecht | Dispatch

Quarterback Joe Germaine and coach John Cooper hoist the trophy after the Buckeyes beat Cooper's previous team, Arizona State in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1997.

John Cooper, the second-winningest coach in Ohio State history, today was named to the College Football Hall of Fame class of 2008.

Based on his career record -- 192-84-6, including 111-43-4 in 13 seasons at Ohio State --  it seemed inevitable that Cooper would gain induction, considering he's also the only coach to lead a team from the Pac-10 (Arizona State) and a team from the Big Ten (OSU) to victory in the Rose Bowl.

"I thought it was going to happen, because you go in based on your record," Cooper said just a while ago. "Still, when it does happen, you have to pinch yourself.

"I mean, holy cow, to join such a select group of college coaches such as Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Bud Wilkinson, General (Bob) Neyland, Bear Bryant, the list goes on  – obviously you are very flattered and very humbled."

Cooper, 70, joined former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz -- the only coach to lead six different programs to bowl games -- and 13 players in the College Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) hall of fame class. It was announced by Steve Hatchell of the National Football Foundation at a noon press conference in New York.

The formal induction will come Dec.9 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, with enshrinement to follow the summer of 2009 at the hall of fame in South Bend, Ind.

Cooper, a native of Powell, Tenn., was a 1962 graduate of Iowa State where he was a hard-hitting safety on the Cyclones' "Dirty 30" teams.

"I think back when I first got into the profession, man, all you want to do is get a job working for somebody," Cooper said. "Then you go from being an assistant to getting your first head coaching job at Tulsa, and you go from there to Arizona State, and from there to Ohio State. All the time you're just hoping you can win enough games, and that's what we were able to do."

His first full-time assistant job was at Oregon State, followed by stints at UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky before he was named head coach at Tulsa in 1977.

He went on to lead Tulsa to 56-32 record before moving Arizona State in 1985, where he went 25-9-2, directing the Sun Devils to the '86 Pac-10 title and a win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Cooper was named to succeed the fired Earle Bruce at Ohio State in 1988, and he proceeded to role up an overall record the next 13 season that was second only to Woody Hayes.

At the same time, his stay at OSU was low-lighted by his teams' lack of success against rival Michigan (2-10-1). Cooper also was known for several teams that came close to national championships, including the 1996 and '98 squads which saw upset losses to Michigan and Michigan State, respectively, ruin perfect seasons.

Cooper was fired by OSU athletic director Andy Geiger the day after the Buckeyes lost on Jan.1, 2001 to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

Still living in Columbus where he says he's now "a full-time husband and grandpa," Cooper has not let the way things ended at OSU sully his memories. He recalled coaching such players as 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George, along with Outland and Lombardi award winner Orlando Pace and myriad other major award winners, All-Americans and NFL draft picks.

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He was already the second-winningest football coach at Ohio State behind Woody Hayes, but Cooper thought 200 victories would have been a nice ribbon to tie around his coaching career. He consulted his younger brother, Frank, on the matter.

"And he made a comment to me that was loud and clear, 'Big … deal,' " Cooper said. "He said, 'On your tombstone, all they'll have is, 'Here lies John Cooper -- 200 victories.' That put a stop to that. I decided to spend a little more time with my wife, my children and my grandbabies. Life is good right now."

Yesterday, life couldn't have been much better when the National Football Foundation announced that Cooper has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Cooper is one of two coaches in the class of 2008, along with Lou Holtz, who won the 1988 national championship at Notre Dame. Among the 15 players elected are UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman, LSU tailback Billy Cannon and Oklahoma State running back Thurman Thomas.

Cooper said he had known since Saturday, when a box containing a football from the National Football Foundation with his name on it was delivered to his Upper Arlington home. Yesterday, he finally could rejoice publicly. It was recognition that, with a 193-83-6 record in 24 seasons that included eight at Tulsa and three at Arizona State, he had done enough.

"Getting elected to the hall of fame, it's the greatest thing you can have happen to you in terms of your profession," Cooper said.

He became the 27th member who either coached and/or played at Ohio State. The OSU coaches who preceded him were Howard Jones (1951), John Wilce (1954), Francis Schmidt (1971), Hayes (1983) and Earle Bruce (2002).

"Jim is going to be in there some day, count on it," Cooper said of his successor, Jim Tressel.

But Tressel said the day belonged to Cooper.

"Coach Cooper has been a tremendous part of our program," Tressel said. "He was one of the first ones when our staff got here to reach a hand out and say, 'What is it we can do to help? We're making Columbus our home. We're Buckeyes forever.' What a warm feeling that was for us."

Cooper went 111-43-4 in 13 seasons at Ohio State. It included shares of three Big Ten titles, a Rose Bowl win over Arizona State after the 1996 season, wins over Holtz's Notre Dame teams in 1995 and '96 and second-place finishes in the major polls in 1996 and '98.

"My philosophy was if you help enough people get what they want, they're going to help you get what you want," Cooper said.

His critics say that if he had won just a little more than half of his games against Michigan (2-10-1) and half of his bowls (3-8), he would have reached 200 wins. And losses to Michigan in '96 and Michigan State in '98 spoiled unbeaten seasons that could have been national championships.

But making the hall of fame is about looking at the forest, not the trees. Yesterday, with his wife of 51 years, Helen, at his side; his son John and daughter Cindy in the room, and his two grandchildren (with another on the way) in his thoughts, Cooper basked in his family. And vice versa, Helen Cooper said.

"After 51 years, he can still walk in a room and make my heart stop," she said.

From Powell, Tenn., the two married and took off to Iowa State in 1959, where Cooper became a hard-hitting safety on the Cyclones' "Dirty 30" teams before graduating in 1962. But becoming a coach was his quest, he said, ever since a high school coach told him he thought he had a knack for it.

"All the time you're just hoping you can win enough games," Cooper said. "That's what we were able to do."

It seems 193 were more than enough for the hall of fame.

"What it says when you're voted into the hall of fame is that you've had good players, and that you had good coaches working for you," Cooper said. "That's what happened to me. I have been blessed. It's a long, long way from rural east Tennessee to the hall of fame."

RENEE SAUER | DISPATCH

Helen Cooper, left, was front and center for husband John's big moment yesterday.

"I'm not going to the Hall of Fame myself," he said. "I want my wife up here."

Up came Helen, tall, redheaded, her blue eyes sparkling. Cooper held the chair out for her.

"This proved I could do a good job recruiting," Cooper said in that Tennessee drawl, smooth as sour mash.

Cooper will be among 15 inducted into College Football Hall of Fame this year. Troy Aikman, Billy Cannon and Thurman Thomas are a few of the players in the class. Lou Holtz is the only other coach.

Cooper called it the ultimate professional honor. As he took questions, and reminisced, he was the same humble, humorous and witty guy that many Ohio State fans came to loathe.

Cooper went 111-43-4 in 13 seasons at Ohio State. Only Wayne Woodrow won more games at the school. Cooper's problem was he went 2-10-1 against Michigan, his bowl record was 3-8, and he talked funny.

There was also a perception that he never got everything out of his talented teams.

But when Cooper was fired in 2001, the reason given was that the program was spiraling out of control. Such a case could be made, but I'm with my colleague Bob Hunter, who says that if Cooper were 10-2-1 against Michigan, and 8-3 in bowl games, nobody would have cared a whit about arrest reports and grade-point averages.

Yesterday, he beamed with pride. It is big-picture time. He was 193-83-6 at Tulsa, Arizona State and Ohio State, and is deserving of the Hall of Fame honor. Period.

What's more, he deserves admiration for the way he withstood the hot tar of derision as his career wound down in Columbus -- where, by the way, he still resides. His daughter is next door. His son is a mile away. Grandchildren abound.

"One of the reasons we stayed here was the street we live on -- we have such great neighbors," Helen said.

She tells of the time she was in a neighbor's yard, and the garage door was open, and she had a look inside and spotted something peculiar. It was a pile of "For Sale" signs.

She asked, "What are you doing with all those 'For Sale' signs in your garage?"

Then it hit her. Irate fans had been planting the signs on the Coopers' lawn after every loss, and the neighbor had been removing and stashing them before the coach caught sight.

"He was always the same at home," Cooper's son, John, said. "If he was bothered by anything, he always kept it inside. I mean, I heard a lot of stuff, and he heard a lot more than I did. And I'm sure it was eating him.

"I remember saying, 'Dad, why don't you just tell them what you think of them?' And he said, 'John, I treat everyone the way I want to be treated, and I'm not going to let them change me. I'll kill them with kindness.' "

We can all learn something from this humble man from Knoxville, who took his medicine and never remarked on the bitter taste of it. He was the first to welcome Jim Tressel, the first to offer help. He keeps an office in the Hayes Center. He loves the Buckeyes.

"I've taken teams into more than 90 stadiums over the years," Cooper said, "and there's not a better game-day atmosphere or a better stadium on a college football Saturday than the 'Shoe. I think it's the pinnacle."

He said, "We love it here. The people have been great to me here. What better place is there to be?"

He said, "These are the best fans in the country."

Cooper beamed. Helen beamed. The kids beamed. The Coopers are going to be enshrined, as a family of Buckeyes. And if that stirs bad feelings in some folks, well, you just don't like Hall of Famers.