2022 -- S 2567

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING PROVIDENCE COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH ED

COOLEY ON BEING NAMED THE BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL 2021-

2022 COACH OF THE YEAR

     Introduced By: Senators Algiere, Ruggerio, McCaffrey, Goodwin, Felag, F Lombardi,
Pearson, and Picard

     Date Introduced: March 10, 2022

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Ed Cooley, the highly regarded head coach of the Providence College Friars

Men’s Basketball Team has become the school’s first winner of the Big East Coach of the Year

Award in the illustrious history of the Big East Conference, which began in 1979. This

achievement becomes even more impressive when one considers that both Joe Mullaney and Rick

Pitino, two of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, coached Providence College

during the Big East era; and

     WHEREAS, Coach Cooley has been the Friars Head Coach for the past eleven seasons,

since 2011, and has compiled an outstanding 611 winning percentage and more than 200 wins

thus far in his tenure at Providence College. He has taken Providence College to five NCAA

Basketball Tournaments and two NIT Invitations in his sterling career with another NCAA berth

a guarantee for the 2022 Tournament; and

     WHEREAS, Coach Cooley’s squad was picked to finish in seventh place in the pre-

season poll. Instead, the Friars took the conference and the nation by surprise, compiling an

outstanding 24-4 overall record thus far, a superb 14-3 regular season conference record, and

winning the Friars 1st ever Big East Conference Men’s Basketball regular season championship,

and attaining the 1st seed in the Big East Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden; and

     WHEREAS, Coach Cooley always gets the most out of his teams and seems to have a

knack for coming up big in close games. In the current season, his squad has an incredible 11-2

record in games decided by two possessions or less, or in overtime. Thanks to his tremendous

leadership and outstanding coaching, Providence College is currently ranked 10th in the nation in

the national Coaches Poll, and 11th in the country in the National AP Poll. At one point this

season, the Friars reached a high of 8th in the national polls. For his myriad accomplishments,

Coach Cooley was recognized by the Sporting News as its National Men’s College Basketball

Coach of the Year for the 2021-2022 Season; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby congratulates

Providence College Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ed Cooley on being named the Big East

Conference Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year and moreover wishes him and his team the best

of luck in the 2022 Big East Conference Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden; and

be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Providence College Men’s Basketball Coach

Ed Cooley.

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