Jon Cooper

In 2004–05 he was named the NAHL Coach of the Year after leading the Bandits to a 36-15-5 record.

Jonathan D. Cooper (born August 23, 1967) is a Canadian-American professional ice hockey coach who is the head coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hofstra University in 1989.

Despite his prior lacrosse experience being that of the box variety, he was a field lacrosse letterman in each of the first four years of John Danowski's tenure as the varsity program's head coach.

An attackman who eventually transitioned into a midfielder, Cooper scored 74 goals with 25 assists for 99 points and was a member of East Coast Conference championship teams as a junior and senior.

He also played one year of club hockey during his time at Hofstra.

He graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.

Cooper practiced law for five years and was a public defender off and on for two years while also maintaining his private practice.

Cooper started playing hockey again while attending law school, ultimately leading to his first experience coaching hockey at Lansing Catholic High School.

Cooper began his coaching career in 1999–2000 with Lansing Catholic High School and led the team to its first regional hockey championship in 25 years.

The following season (2000–01) he served as an assistant with the Capital Centre Pride of the North American Hockey League, the only time during his coaching career Cooper was an assistant.

During the 2001–02 season, Cooper was the head coach of the Metro Jets in the North American 3 Hockey League and led the Jets to the Silver Cup – the USA Hockey National Junior B Championship.

In 2002–03, Cooper coached the Honeybaked Midget Major AAA team.

In 2003, Cooper returned to the North American Hockey League (NAHL) to coach the expansion Texarkana Bandits.

Cooper continued with the Bandits franchise when it relocated to St. Louis in 2006–07.

During the 2006–07 season, the Bandits captured the Robertson Cup as league champion.

The following season the Bandits would once again capture the Robertson Cup.

Additionally, Cooper won his second NAHL Coach of the Year that season.

Cooper spent a total of five seasons coaching in the NAHL before moving on to coach the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League.

In his five seasons coaching the Bandits franchise in the NAHL, Cooper compiled an overall record of 198-74-18.

Cooper was the coach of the United States Hockey League (USHL)'s Green Bay Gamblers starting in 2008.

He led the team in 2008–09 and 2009–10 to a combined record of 84–27–9.

In 2010, the team won the Clark Cup for the League's championship and Cooper was named USHL Coach of the Year.

He is the only coach to win a championship in all three tiers of junior hockey in the United States.

In 2010, Cooper was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning to coach the Norfolk Admirals, the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.

During the 2011–12 season, the Admirals won the Calder Cup as the AHL's champions.

The Admirals also set a North American professional sports record for the longest regular season winning streak at 28 games in a row.

Additionally, Cooper won the 2012 Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL's most outstanding head coach.

For the 2012–13 season, Cooper became the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch after the Lightning changed their AHL affiliation.

In 65 games with the Crunch, Cooper led the team to a 39–18–3–5 record, the best in the AHL at the time of his promotion.

On March 25, 2013, following the dismissal of head coach Guy Boucher, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Cooper would become head coach.

After leading the Lightning to their best season in franchise history in points (108) and wins (50) in 2014-15, Cooper coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to their second Prince of Wales Trophy as the Eastern Conference champion.

The Lightning lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals.

On March 22, 2016, Cooper recorded his 143rd win as the Lightning's head coach.

The win moved Cooper past Terry Crisp for second all-time in wins in franchise history.

In the 2016 playoffs, Cooper coached the Lightning to another deep playoff run by defeating the Detroit Red Wings in five games in round 1 for the second consecutive time and the New York Islanders and then losing in seven games to the Pittsburgh Penguins in round 3, 1 win short from back to back Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

On November 8, 2017, Cooper recorded his 200th career win as head coach of the Lightning.

Cooper won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021 as the Lightning head coach, and is the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL.

Cooper was born in Prince George, British Columbia.

He played high school hockey at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan.