Ramone Cooper

Ramone Cooper joined Baylor Athletics in August 2021 as the Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services. With an aptness for leading athletic academic advising units, Cooper is passionate about the development of student-athletes and champions their holistic success. He will provide administrative leadership and oversight to a sixteen-person academic services team, while also severing as a secondary sport program administrator for track and field.

Cooper comes to Baylor after spending two and half years as the Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Support Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). During his time at UAB, Cooper oversaw all areas of student support including academic advising and student-athlete development. Under his leadership, UAB Athletics Department achieved its top two term GPAs in program history, 3.38 and 3.41 respectively. Additionally, the institution established itself as a leader within the student-athlete development space at the conference level and nationally. Earning back-to-back C-USA SAAC Cup Championship honors (19-20 and 20-21) and finishing 4th among Division-I institutions in community service rankings (20-21).

Prior to joining UAB, Cooper held multiple roles at the University of Georgia from 2014-2019. In his most notable position as the Director of Academics, Cooper led the academic advising unit which saw the department earn a 3.0+ cumulative GPA in each year that he served. He also has stops at NC State, Towson University and the University of Louisville. Working within athletic academic services at each of his previous institutions, Ramone has advised football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, track and field, and softball student-athletes.

Throughout his career, Cooper has also shown a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. At UAB, Ramone served as a diversity education ambassador and facilitator for campus. He also co-chaired Blazer Allies, an ongoing support arm charged with listening, educating, and developing strategic plans in the areas of DEI. He’s been a DEI leader on a national level as well, having held leadership positions within the National Association of Academic and Student-Development Professionals (N4A). His work for N4A’s Ethnic Concerns Committee (ECC) includes developing a scholarship, in 2013, designed to afford members from HBCU, lower resource institutions, and Hispanic serving institutions the ability to attend national conferences in. Additionally, he has led efforts aimed at underserved communities nationwide--equipping them with education surrounding, financial aid, college readiness, and NCAA eligibility. Cooper’s committee reached 300+ high school coaches, administrators, parents and students through their virtual programming. As the 2021-22 ECC Vice Chair, through collaboration with N4A DEI professionals, Cooper will have created the first-ever virtual DEI Summit, an opportunity for individuals working in higher ed and at the professional sports level to connect, learn, and share best practices surrounding diversity and inclusion initiatives.

He is a former track and field athlete (University of Alabama-Huntsville) and graduate of Tennessee State University where he earned bachelor’s degree in Human Performance and Sports Science. He also has master’s degrees in Business Administration from UAB and Sport Administration from the University of Louisville. Ramone has two sons, Trey and Kaleb.