California State University Northridge Athletics
CSUN Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1985
- Class:
- 1968
Cooley played for head coach Jerry Ball. During his sophomore year, he was a substitute, averaging approximately 8.0Â minutes per game. Starting as a junior, he was the inexperienced member of the team, so once again, as he had done during every off-season of basketball, he worked in the gym to improve his skills. That year, he averaged over 17.0 points per game and was named second-team all-conference.
A 1967 All-District-8 selection, Cooley was also an All-West Coast selection that same season. As a 6-6 high post center, Cooley was a good outside shooter as well as being effective under the basket. One of the team's highlights was defeating back-to-back national champions Evansville (101-90) on Dec. 14, 1966 with Cooley scored 30 points. Another highlight of Mark's was scoring 40 points in CSUN's 99-88 win over Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 18, 1967.
His other career accolades include scoring 1,054 career points (20th-most in CSUN history) and leading the Matadors with a 19.7 PPG average as a senior in 1966-67. His 10.5 rebounds per game that season still rank seventh in program history.
Cooley is also one of just 12 CSUN players to record at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for a career, and he was the first ever to reach the milestone. He went on to post 23 career double-doubles - 10th-most in CSUN history.
Cooley earned his bachelor's degree in Spanish in 1968 and later, a master's degree in education at CSUN in 1971. A second master's degree was earned in administration from the University of La Verne. He began his career in education as a high school Spanish teacher and moved on to the education of limited English speakers. He retired in 2005 as Director of Bilingual Services/Instructional Support for the Azusa Unified School District.
