Cooper Koch honored to carry on family legacy at Iowa
PEORIA, Ill. (BVM) – Cooper Koch is one of the top high school basketball prospects in Illinois, as well as one of the highest-rated players nationally in the Class of 2024. As a result, it’s no surprise he began receiving college interest early on in his high school career.
While he also plays golf in high school at Peoria Notre Dame (PND), basketball has been his main sport ever since he can remember. A big reason for that is his dad, J.R. Koch, who coached Cooper throughout his grade school years.
“He coached me from second grade to eighth grade and that’s what really got me into it,” Cooper said.
Playing travel ball with the Peoria Irish and competing on his school’s team at St. Vincent de Paul, Cooper got one of his first tastes of basketball success as he won a state championship on his school team in seventh grade. It was also a moment made more special by the fact that he got to share it with his father.
“It meant a lot,” Cooper said. “I still play with two of the players that were on that team, they’re starters on the PND team right now. That season kind of came full circle because the team we played in the first game of the season we ended up playing in the state championship. So to beat them twice in one season, it was fun. To be able to do it with my dad as the coach, it meant even more.”
Whether it be on the court or off, Cooper has been able to take away a lot from his father that has turned him into both the player and person he is today.
“On the court, always give your best effort, and he’s instilled in me a good work ethic,” Cooper said. “And no matter what I do, whether it’s basketball or school or just day-to-day things in life, to always do your best and make the most of it.”
As evidenced by the state championship in seventh grade, Cooper and J.R. have been able to share several special basketball moments together over the years, but many more are sure to come in the near future.
J.R. played college basketball at Iowa from 1995-99, and became a key member of the Hawkeyes’ program throughout his career, averaging 11.4 points and 4.2 rebounds as a senior. The 6-foot-10 big man was selected in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, and went on to have a six-year pro basketball career in Europe.
As a result, Cooper has not only always been around the game, but he has also been around the Hawkeyes’ campus in Iowa City for many years.
“I’ve definitely been around it a lot more than most kids can say,” Cooper said. “It’s been fun. Watching Coach [Fran] McCaffery and the style of play, how fast they get up and down, and just how much they share the ball … And then all the people that just make it like a family, whether they are going to watch the football or the basketball team, everyone is just rooting for each other. That’s what makes it my dream school.”
While Iowa became the top choice for the four-star recruit, there were other teams, notably a couple of the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten rivals, that were in the mix to land the 6-foot-9 forward.
“I thought about going to Wisconsin,” Cooper said. “There was great consideration there, and Purdue. Coach Painter and the coaching staff there, and then Coach Gard and just the systems they run and the schools and the campuses, they were both good contenders.”
However, the Peoria Notre Dame junior officially sealed the deal with the Hawkeyes when he verbally committed last June.
I have grown up dreaming of playing for the Hawkeyes. Yesterday I made that dream a reality! I am proud to say I have committed to play for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and Coach McCaffery!
GO HAWKS⚫️🟡!! pic.twitter.com/iJWhPGa7pg
— Cooper Koch (@CooperKoch44) June 23, 2022
One of the biggest reasons for the commitment was the opportunity to carry on his family’s legacy at Iowa.
“It means a lot to be able to go play where he [J.R.] played and hopefully wear the same number and all that,” Cooper said. “It’s fun going to the games and meeting people that he played with. It’s an honor to carry on the legacy.”
Currently ranked as the 62nd-best prospect in the Class of 2024 by 247Sports, Iowa isn’t just bringing in a family member of a former player. They are getting an elite basketball talent.
Cooper’s development on the court was seen throughout his youth, but it was in eighth grade where he began realizing just how good his game is. A talented forward with a high IQ who is a strong leader on the court, the 6-foot-9 forward has proven to have a strong game both inside and out the past few years. One of the biggest reasons for that is the coaching he’s received, as well as the talent he’s been able to play with over the past few years with one of the Midwest’s top AAU basketball programs in Indiana Elite.
Back to back Champs! pic.twitter.com/zvu36mNzX4
— Cooper Koch (@CooperKoch44) July 25, 2022
“It’s been awesome,” Cooper said. “They’ve helped me transform my game from kind of a big, lengthy guy that can shoot the ball and dribble sometimes, to being able to play on the perimeter a lot, guard multiple positions and do everything.”
Meanwhile, Cooper has also made a big impact on his high school program at Peoria Notre Dame. However, it has not come without a little adversity.
As a freshman, Cooper and his Irish team played a limited schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the forward had to adjust to the faster pace and bigger players of the high school game in an unprecedented season.
“It was definitely a change from eighth grade to high school,” Cooper said. “I didn’t play that much, and we only played about 15 games.”
However, with a normalized season as a sophomore, Cooper and his Irish teammates began to excel, particularly as the talented forward scored over 20 points per game during a strong midseason run. Overall on the year, Cooper put up around 16 points a contest as well as seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block as an all-state player.
Although the 22-win Irish eventually fell in the postseason, it only motivated Cooper and his teammates further for 2022-23.
“As a team, we started off a little slow, and I started off a little slow,” Cooper noted. “As we got towards the winter and Christmas tournament, we started to figure it out … We got to the postseason and we were a little upset by Manual, so we weren’t happy with that, but we came back this season and I think we’re going to make a run.”
Coming into this season, Cooper and the Irish had high hopes. At 17-13, the year hasn’t gone quite to plan, but what they hope to accomplish is still out in front of them.
“Our goals are to win a regional and hopefully a sectional,” Cooper said. “We’ve got tough competition, but I think we can do it. It’s been a little bit of a rocky year, but we’re going to figure it out.”
A big reason for the rocky start to the year was the absence of the Irish’s junior star who found himself sidelined due to air sockets on his lung causing it to collapse, one of a few times he has missed time due to an injury of that nature.
“It’s definitely a setback,” Cooper said. “To stay positive, it’s not easy. But I’ve had it before and I know the process so that definitely helps.
“Just being able to stick together as a team and come to work every day, we’ve been playing with each other for so long that we kind of know that it will turn around at some point. It just always seems to happen for us like that.”
As PND continues to round into form at the right time, it is in large part thanks to what have become the Irish’s “twin towers.” That includes Cooper, as well as fellow 6-foot-9 junior teammate Eoin Dillon, someone Cooper has relished playing with since his grade school years.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Cooper said. “We always go work together in the mornings and are always pushing each other to get better and keep improving, looking forward to that next level.”
No matter what happens to close out their junior season, Cooper and Dillon will be back at PND next year looking for even more success. It will also be the last chance for the Iowa commit to put his stamp on a tremendous four-year run at the program.
“I think we can have some high goals for next year,” Cooper said. “We bring back the whole starting lineup, add a few sophomores that are going to be juniors, I think we can make a deep playoff run.
“The legacy I want to leave is just always work hard. Leave it better than you found it for the younger kids coming in.”
From there, it will be off to Iowa for the talented forward. With a strong 2023 class coming in that includes a couple of other Illinois natives in Moline teammates Brock Harding and Owen Freeman, as well as in-state four star Pryce Sandfort and New Jersey three-star Ladji Dembele, the future looks bright in Iowa City with Cooper also joining the mix in 2024.
“I’m really excited,” Cooper said. “I think the future is bright for the Iowa program. Coach McCaffery knows how to develop players, so I think it can only get better.
“Personally, I just want to try to prepare myself for hopefully the professional level, whether it’s the NBA, or overseas, or anywhere. As a team, just make it as far in the NCAA Tournament as we can. Win a few Big Ten championships, and hopefully just grow as a family and as a team.”
Perhaps making the transition to the college game easier for the four-star is having his father by his side who went through the same process several years ago. The game is different now than it was then, and the Kochs realize that as Cooper gets ready for the next level.
“He obviously knows what coaches are looking for, and it’s different nowadays,” Cooper said. “Always keep working on ball handling and being able to play every position, because that’s what the game is starting to turn to.”
However, even if the game has changed, Cooper still wants to do what his dad did many years ago. Not only does that include shining at Iowa, but after, he hopes to follow in J.R.’s footsteps once more while accomplishing his ultimate basketball goal.
“I’ve been dreaming of that ever since I heard my dad got drafted,” Cooper said about playing in the pros someday. “I just want to be able to follow in his footsteps. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of work outside of what everybody sees.”
