Siena University Athletics

Longtime Capital Region softball presence George Cooper joined the Siena Softball staff as an Assistant Coach in September 2020. Cooper assists Head Coach Casey Bump as the team's hitting and recruiting coordinator. 

During his first three seasons with the program, Cooper has worked closely with head coach Casey Bump to take Siena as close to the top of the MAAC as it's ever been, culminating with the program's first MAAC Championship Game appearance to end the 2022 season. The Saints posted an unprecedented 32-win campaign in 2022 to set the single-season record for wins and make its deepest MAAC postseason run ever.

Siena's upward trend continued into the 2023 season, with the Saints posting the best start in program history (6-0) en-route to matching the program wins record with its second straight 30-win season for the third time ever. The team set the single-season stolen base record in just 37 games and strung together a program record 30.1 straight shutout innings over a program record four straight shutouts from March 29 - April 3. Three MAAC postseason selections culminated in graduate student Ava Fitzmaurice becoming the program's first-ever NFCA First Team All-Region selection. 

Returning to a full slate of play in 2022, Siena re-wrote the record books by setting new single season marks in wins, hits, walks drawn, strikeouts, and fielding percentage. Siena won four games in three days to rise out of the loser's bracket in the 2022 MAAC Tournament, with three players earning MAAC All-Tournament Team honors for their efforts. Cooper helped five Saints earn All-MAAC accolades, with senior pitcher/outfielder Ava Fitzmaurice also receiving a Second Team All-Region nod. 

Cooper brought 15 years of softball coaching experience to Loudonville, including 10 at the club level and five at local area high schools. 

He most recently served two stints as a volunteer assistant at nearby Columbia High School in East Greenbush, NY from 2019-20 and 2013-15. In between, he was the head coach at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany from 2016-18. 

Cooper is no stranger to working alongside Coach Bump, having co-owned Casey Halloran's Fastpitch Universe with her, providing hitting lessons for youth through college age players. He also served as a hitting instructor at the Tri-City Bombers Bunker in Troy, NY from 2013-17. 

Cooper earned a bachelor's degree in economics with a minor in business administration from Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont in 1990. He has spent the better part of three decades working in the banking industry. 

Cooper resides in Round Lake with his wife, Sharon, and has two adult children, Caitlin and Aidan.