Cooper comes to Clarion from NCAA Division I Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y., where he served as the Coordinator of Player Development from August 2013 through May 2014.

“In my first year, I’m fortunate to have an excellent, young coach like Jermaine to begin building the future of Clarion Women’s basketball,” Ashley said. “Jermaine brings a wealth of recruiting contacts and a passion for teaching our players. His energy on the court is contagious, and I’m very excited to work alongside him as we climb to the top of the PSAC.”

Prior to joining the staff at Binghamton, Cooper, a native of Youngstown Ohio, was the head women’s basketball coach at Ohio State-Mansfield during the 2012-13 season and was the associate head coach of the Ohio Glory women’s AAU program from 2011-13. He was also the head varsity boys’ basketball coach at Veritas Academy High School in Worthington, Ohio, for the 2009-10 through 2011-12 seasons and served as the school’s athletics director from July 2010 until March 2012.

“I was attracted to Clarion because my hometown is a little over an hour away, and it’s like a second home to me,” Cooper said. “I was very familiar with the PSAC and Clarion University, and after Jana shared her vision of the program with me, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

Cooper has worked some top camps including the Syracuse University Girls’ Elite Camp, the Ohio State University boys’ camp and the Purdue University summer camp.

A 2009 graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Technology, Cooper played club basketball while in college and also played semi-pro ball for the Marysville Meteors in 2010. A graduate of Rayen High School in Youngstown, Ohio, Cooper was a multi-sport athlete playing both basketball and baseball.

NOTES — Ashley comes to Clarion after serving as an assistant coach at Iona last season where she helped the Gales to a 26-6 record, the MAAC Championship and a berth in the Women’s NCAA Division I NIT Tournament. She spent 11 years as an assistant at the NCAA Division I level with stops at Radford and George Mason as well after a playing career at NCAA Division II North Alabama … The Golden Eagles were 11-15 last year in the final season for legendary head coach Margaret “Gie” Parsons, who announced her retirement following the season, which was her 25th. Parsons is the all-time winningest coach in school history with 352 career victories. She led Clarion to the NCAA Division II playoffs six times including Elite Eight appearances n 1991 and 1994 while winning five PSAC West and three PSAC titles … Clarion returns one of the top players in the PSAC in senior forward Hannah Heeter (14.3 ppg, 12.3 rpg) as well as starters Tania Holmes (8.1 ppg) and Jasmine Boyd (6.6 ppg) from the 2013-14 campaign.