Here’s a ‘big bang’ theory: New coach’s influence will keep Scots runners on the rise.
Cooper Pauley is looking to make a “big bang” with the Monmouth College men’s and women’s cross-country teams.
Pauley, a Monmouth graduate and a standout for the program when he was a Fighting Scot, took the reins just days before the start of this season. He knew that major impact wouldn’t happen this fall, as he inherited a very young roster, but the 2018 alum is confident he can return the program to the heights he experienced as a Scot, and beyond.
Monmouth’s men finished second in the Midwest Conference his junior season, with Pauley turning in a fourth-place, all-conference finish.
This fall, Pauley’s first teams both placed sixth out of nine teams at the MWC meet, which was held in Appleton, Wisconsin. Will Plumley, who ran to an all-conference 14th-place finish, is one of two seniors on the Scots’ combined roster. Eight Scots who are due to return next fall clocked season-best times at the meet.
“I felt very good about it,” said Pauley of his team’s performance. “Both teams improved throughout the year. The work they’ve put in and the effort they’ve given has really laid a good foundation for the next few years.”
His Monmouth origin story
“I didn’t really know much about Monmouth,” said Pauley of his high school days. “I visited here as a junior. I got on this campus, I got in the Huff Center and met with Coach (Jon) Welty, Coach (Brian) Woodard, Coach (Roger) Haynes,” who would all become “great mentors” for him.
“I felt the magic of Monmouth,” he said. “I couldn’t necessarily even explain it. This place felt right to me.”
That magic has continued in his post-graduate years.
“I felt the magic of Monmouth. I couldn’t necessarily even explain it. This place felt right to me. … The farther I get away from my time as a student, the more positive I view my experience.” – Cooper Pauley
“The farther I get away from my time as a student, the more positive I view my experience,” said Pauley. “As far as life-changing, I wouldn’t be sitting in this position right now if I didn’t come to Monmouth. Ninety percent of my good friends right now are based off my time at Monmouth. Monmouth has had as much an impact on my life as anything has.”
‘I just love this campus so much’
Pauley returned to his alma mater from State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri, where he coached both of the Roadrunners teams to Region XVI team championships last fall.
“This campus meant so much to me,” said Pauley, who will also coach the distance runners on the Scots’ indoor and outdoor track teams. While he was on the track team, the men won seven of a possible eight MWC team titles. “When I graduated, I didn’t think I’d ever be back on a regular basis again. To be back here on a daily basis is pretty surreal and incredible. I just love this campus so much … it was something I couldn’t pass up.”
A wellness administration major, Pauley initially found work at fitness centers before making the decision to get into coaching in 2021.
“I dedicated myself for about eight months to getting coaching certificates and feeling confident in my abilities,” he said. “The biggest factor is coaching different individuals. You can’t coach everybody the exact same. You have a set of standards and expectations for your team, but everybody responds to training differently. Everybody responds to how you talk to them differently. So it’s important to coach the individual and know how to get the best out of them. That was something I had to work on when I first began coaching.”
Goals for 2025 and beyond
Both of Pauley’s teams beat three other MWC schools at the conference meet. The goal now is jump over another three or four teams and “get back in upper echelon of the conference,” said Pauley. “That’s where we need to be and where we can be with the talented group of individuals that we have right now.”
Long-term over the next four or five years, the Scots coach said the goal is “winning a conference championship. It hasn’t been done in a long time, and we want to get over that hump.”
“(We want to) get back in upper echelon of the conference. That’s where we need to be and where we can be with the talented group of individuals that we have right now.” – Cooper Pauley
Near the beginning of the 2000s, the Scots’ men placed in the league’s top three eight times in nine seasons, capped by a team title in 2006. The women had a five-year run of top-three finishes, bookended by team titles in 2008 and 2012. More recently, the women placed second in 2018 and 2019.
This year, on the women’s side, sophomores Samantha Costello and Melissa Bivolarov placed in the 30s, setting themselves up for all-conference finishes in the second half of their careers. Their classmate, Xander Stoub, who placed 30th, is in a similar position on the men’s team, and so is freshman Fernando Avila Rubio, who was slowed by an injury at the MWC meet but had been running well all season.
“Mentally, our team knows how to work, so when the new freshmen come in next season, our returners will be able to say, ‘Come train with me,’ and they’ll do a very good job with that type of leadership,” said Pauley.
The Cooper Pauley/Koothrappali connection
And finally, a less serious question for the newest member of Monmouth’s coaching staff. Does anyone ever mention fictional TV character Raj Koothrappali around him?
“Yes, people do bring up The Big Bang Theory to me,” said Pauley with a smile. “It gets on my radar a decent amount of time. My parents actually love the show.”
***Courtesy of Barry McNamara, Monmouth College***
