Archie Cooley.... What is his legacy


Taylor-Made'90 said:
One of my uncles was a Highway Patrolman back when Cooley was at Valley. And he and the other black troopers escorted the team whenever they travelled. He tells this story (don't know how true it is), but it sounds possible, considering we're talking about Cooley.

"When Valley came to Jackson to play Alcorn (on that Sunday), the Valley buses arrived at the Stadium and parked in their normal spot, in that circle in behind the locker-room building. Alcorn's buses (and players) were already unloading. My uncle said Cooley ran off the bus yelling and pointing. He said the offense ran off the bus (in sweat pants) and lined up in a 5-wide formation, right there in the parking lot. Totten was barking signals and (I forget the slot receivers name, not Rice, the short guy) goes in motion from left to right. Totten gets the snap and drops back. Nobody sees where the slot receiver ran (at least not yet). Totten holds it, holds it, and then cocks that cannon and throws a rocket OVER the scoreboard..... Everybody's looking at the ball sail over the scoreboard. Then you hear fans (already in the stands) cheering and shouting...


That dad-gum boy had run around the locker room and was streaking down the middle of the field and CAUGHT that ball...... :D:D

And Cooley was telling everybody that was around, "See, I tolja we was coming off the bus chunkin' da dayum ball"...

My uncle told that story for 30 years, at least...

Don't know if it's true.... But that's what I was told......


:D:D:D
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Actually Valley at the time had (2) starting receivers that were 5'8 or less. Maurice Wade and Willie Ware, I dont know how true this story was from you uncle but for Totten to throw a pass over the scoreboard is funny as hell.

And as it was quoted earlier Cooley did have the team practicing in the stadium parking lot in front of Leflore Hall. If you lived in Leflore Hall you best believe you had better park your car on the A.D. side otherwise you would have door dings or smashes from flying footballs on your car.
 
Taylor-Made'90 said:
One of my uncles was a Highway Patrolman back when Cooley was at Valley. And he and the other black troopers escorted the team whenever they travelled. He tells this story (don't know how true it is), but it sounds possible, considering we're talking about Cooley.

"When Valley came to Jackson to play Alcorn (on that Sunday), the Valley buses arrived at the Stadium and parked in their normal spot, in that circle in behind the locker-room building. Alcorn's buses (and players) were already unloading. My uncle said Cooley ran off the bus yelling and pointing. He said the offense ran off the bus (in sweat pants) and lined up in a 5-wide formation, right there in the parking lot. Totten was barking signals and (I forget the slot receivers name, not Rice, the short guy) goes in motion from left to right. Totten gets the snap and drops back. Nobody sees where the slot receiver ran (at least not yet). Totten holds it, holds it, and then cocks that cannon and throws a rocket OVER the scoreboard..... Everybody's looking at the ball sail over the scoreboard. Then you hear fans (already in the stands) cheering and shouting...


That dad-gum boy had run around the locker room and was streaking down the middle of the field and CAUGHT that ball...... :D:D

And Cooley was telling everybody that was around, "See, I tolja we was coming off the bus chunkin' da dayum ball"...My uncle told that story for 30 years, at least...

Don't know if it's true.... But that's what I was told......


:D:D:D
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Yep that was Cooley...that was part of his hype. He said the same thing on his TV show here. When we played in the Arkansas Classic in Little Rock ..he would say on his show..."We gonna stop between Little Rock and Pine Bluff and we gonna warm up throwing the ball"

He challenged,the fans by telling them on TV,"if we get 30,000 I'm gonna come out riding a white horse". lol Cooley got the attetion of fans when UAPB beat the "ever living crap" out of Henderson State. That was the first game of the season after his inaugural first season. The state was introduce to Ivory Lee Brown.(who was built like Optimus Prime) He literally ran over Henderson State that was at that time a NAIA powerhouse. But the first game as him as a coach against Quachita Baptist. They were a powerful NAIA football team at that time. Cooley won that game..but the media was not to keen on UAPB players coming on the field and they dropped to their knees and start using both of their hands and fingers as if they were 6 shooters,shooting at the losing team QBU. lol Cooley's best win was against NCAA 1AA #10 Delaware State Hornets. UAPB won that game shocking the NCAA's powerhouse Delaware State.
Despite his faults and ethics as a coach. I can still respect his ability to connect with fans.
Then again too there are some in Pine Bluff that cannot stand him.
 
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BulldogM.Ed.23 said:
I remember seeing footage on BET back in the day of Alcorn players running towards Valley's sideline, getting on their knees and acting as if they were pulling out their pistols....at the time, I didn't know what all of that was about, but this above explains everything to me...
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That gesture had a little bit of mockery involved. Cooley's nickname was the "Gunslinger"; so after Alcorn won the game they were letting him know that the "Gunslinger" had been shot down. Word was coming out of the Delta that he was telling everyone that they were gonna run the score up on the Braves. Ike Holt and the "Soul Patrol" had a little bit to say about that. A helluva game. One for the ages.
 
I remember TSU & Valley playing in Houston. J Cole was our QB. we scored 57 points and lost the game.. The news media in Houston was enamored with the o line. They called themselves 2 tons of fun.
 
FRENCHIE said:
That gesture had a little bit of mockery involved. Cooley's nickname was the "Gunslinger"; so after Alcorn won the game they were letting him know that the "Gunslinger" had been shot down. Word was coming out of the Delta that he was telling everyone that they were gonna run the score up on the Braves. Ike Holt and the "Soul Patrol" had a little bit to say about that. A helluva game. One for the ages.
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Running up the score was no secret. Valley tried to do that to everybody. Cooley mighta pulled up when they beat JSU 49-21 or something like that. They lead 35-0 midway through the 2nd quarter. Cooley mighta had a soft spot for his alma mater. Otherwise, if he could hang 100 on ya, he was gonna do it.
 
EB said:
I do not know if someone brought up this. Did Casem recommend Cooley for the Southern job right before Richardson was hired?
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Yes he did. Cooley was Casem's OC in 1992. Remember Casem was our AD and after we fired Kimble right after we beat Gram in the BC in 91.....Casem was going to hire Houston Markham from Bama State to be head coach. Well ole Markham reneged and had SU waiting at the press conference while he got a backdoor deal to stay at Bama State. So he used us for a raise. That forced Casem back to the sidelines in Fall 92. So he brought in Cooley to be the OC. That year we loaded up on talent like Eric Randall and Heish Northern and others that started the run with Pete. After the 92 season Casem recommended Cooley to the SU Board to be head coach. Thank goodness Dr. Delores Spikes was like hell no.........and she overuled him and hired Pete. Ironically SU had beaten Pete and Winston Salem pretty bad in 92 at Shreveport's stadium. Spikes saved SU many times from stupid moves. She's my favorite SU prez.
 
FRENCHIE said:
That gesture had a little bit of mockery involved. Cooley's nickname was the "Gunslinger"; so after Alcorn won the game they were letting him know that the "Gunslinger" had been shot down. Word was coming out of the Delta that he was telling everyone that they were gonna run the score up on the Braves. Ike Holt and the "Soul Patrol" had a little bit to say about that. A helluva game. One for the ages.
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Does anyone have this game on tape! I would pay to have a copy of it. An HBCU classic.
 
Robber said:
Running up the score was no secret. Valley tried to do that to everybody. Cooley mighta pulled up when they beat JSU 49-21 or something like that. They lead 35-0 midway through the 2nd quarter. Cooley mighta had a soft spot for his alma mater. Otherwise, if he could hang 100 on ya, he was gonna do it.
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(RIP) We're still paying for those sins today lol.
 
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@BulldogM.Ed.23 I met a graduate of UAPB from the early 60s, he told me Coach Rob would come to Monroe with a truck and load up all the boys that wanted to play football. Well UAPB coach visited him and talked him into going there. Well the day Coach Rob came to pick up the boys, he wasn't there so Coach Rob went to his house and knocked on the door. He said he went to the door and told coach Rob, he was going to UAPB and coach Rob looked him in the eyes and told him. As long as he plays at UAPB, He, Coach Rob, would make sure to beat the stank out of them. The old dude told me, they never came close to beating Grambling his whole college football career and Coach Rob would smile at him after every game
 
Cheating is what Cooley did do to the most extreme but dammit, the offense was beyond ahead of its time. Hell we just started seeing spread offenses in the NFL with the "Valley trips right/left" when the Rams won the Super Bowl. It took years for people to start doing the wide receiver screens. Bill Walsh gave Cooley his credit for the offense but people still don't give him his due for the offense. If you could enhance the video from a Valley game with the Totten and Rice you would swear it was a present day game. Except for the unis of course. Also give him credit for having Valley vs Alcorn the highest attended football game in Mississippi history. There was no walking around in that b#@ch that Sunday.
 

In_The_662 said:
Yep.
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Cooley picked up some things Mouse Davis was doing at Portland State. The Satellite Express offense broke Portland State records set by Neil Lomax at QB with Davis as head coach.

Davis brought his offense to the USFL and he installed the K-Gun with Jim Kelly. That's where Jack Pardee got the UH offense from.

Jerry Glanville coached with Davis and brought that offense to the Falcons.

Cooley added some wrinkles from what he saw Davis do, looked at Tiger Ellison's book on the Run and Shoot, and did his own thing. I wish I were a fly on the wall watching Cooley and Davis talk offense.
 
Robber said:
Cooley's legacy amongst HBCU fans will be two-fold. First, he'll be remembered for his innovative offense. Those sets were nothing like we'd seen prior to him coaching at Valley. And unless you were a Valley fan or Alcornite, seeing that offense operate hurt your feelings pretty good. We give Cooley credit for starting the West Coast offense that Bill Walsh is credited for. I don't know where Cooley learned his offense from. I don't recall him ever saying. He's a JSU alum, and I don't ever hear of JSU running that offense while Cooley was there. Second, he will forever be known as a monumental cheater. I'm talking on a scale that Johnny Cole hasn't reached yet. What you saw at Pine Bluff and Paul Quinn was simply how Cooley operated. He wanted to win, and if cheating was the way to do it, so be it.
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So true!
 
PV-PRIDE said:
I remember when Cooley was at Valley.....they would practice about 4-5 times a day. The practice fields didn't have lights so they would be in the parking lots around the stadium and near the gym until about 10 or 11 o'clock at night.
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Lmaoooo
 
East Tex Tiger said:
I remember TSU & Valley playing in Houston. J Cole was our QB. we scored 57 points and lost the game.. The news media in Houston was enamored with the o line. They called themselves 2 tons of fun.
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I remember that game too. The attendance was very, very good. There were people at that game that you would not usually see at a TSU football game.
 
Cooley has a legacy? I just thought he was just known for his famous quotes.

"We gonna be throwin bombs coming off the bus!!"
 
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