Archie "Gunslinger" Cooley (born 1940) is a former college football coach. He served as the head football coach at

Mississippi Valley State University Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU, The Valley or Valley) is a public historically black university in Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi, adjacent to Itta Bena, Mississippi.University of Arkansas–Pine Bluff from 1987 to 1991,

Norfolk State University Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 a ...

in 1993, and

Paul Quinn College Paul Quinn College (PQC) is a private historically black Methodist college in Dallas, Texas. The college is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). It is the oldest historically black college west of the Mississippi River ...

from 2000 to 2006. At Mississippi Valley State, Cooley coached the tandem of

Willie Totten Willie "Satellite" Totten (born July 4, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He is the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach at Mississippi Valley State University, a position he had held since 2019. Totten played colleg ...

and

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. Known primarily as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, winning three championsh ...

, future

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and wide receiver, respectively.

Early life

Cooley was born and

Sumrall, Mississippi Sumrall is a town in Lamar County, Mississippi. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,421 at the 2010 census. History Sumrall was one of many new towns incorporated along the Mississippi ...

and raised in

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first coun ...

, where he attended Oak Park High School. He played college football at

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of stude ...

under John Merritt. Cooley graduated in 1962.

Coaching career

Cooley began his coaching career at Southside High School in

Heidelberg, Mississippi Heidelberg is a town in Jasper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 718 at the 2010 census, down from 840 at the 2000 census. Geography Heidelberg is located in southeastern Jasper County at (31.891249, -88.990952). The town l ...

, where he worked for seven years. From 1971 to 1973 he was a linebacker and defensive line coach at

Alcorn State University Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. ...

. Cooley moved to

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

in 1974 as a linebacker coach. The success Cooley achieved at Mississippi Valley State is attributed to his design of his innovative "Satellite Express" passing offense, which was a

no huddle offense The hurry-up offense is an American football offensive style, which has two different but related forms in which the offensive team avoids delays between plays. The hurry-up, no-huddle offense (HUNH) refers to avoiding or shortening the huddle to l ...

featuring five wide receivers. Cooley led the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils to their only Division I-AA playoff appearance in 1984. The

1984 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team The 1984 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils team represented the Mississippi Valley State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1984 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by fifth-year head coach A ...

set different passing, receiving, and scoring records that featured

and quarterback

. To this day, Cooley is the winningest coach in the history of the Delta Devil football program. He also served as an associate professor of physical education at Mississippi Valley State. In 1987 Cooley moved on to

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a public historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or university in the state of Arkansas. UAPB is part of the University o ...

, which was then an NAIA member before the school moved up to the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates ...

(SWAC) in the 1990s. He coached there for four years, from 1987 to 1990, and served as athletic director and associate professor. In 1993, Cooley was hired as head coach at

, where he stayed for only one year. After a long hiatus from the coaching scene, Cooley returned when he became head coach at

located in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. Paul Quinn was an NAIA member school which was then establishing a new football program, and Cooley was responsible for starting the program from the ground up. He served as head coach from 2000 to 2006. The school was experiencing financial and accreditation issues and its administration decided to drop the football program after the 2006 season. In 2007, Cooley was inducted into the

Hall of Fame

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Archie 1940 births Living people American football centers American football linebackers Alcorn State Braves football coaches Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions athletic directors Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football coaches Jackson State Tigers football players Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football coaches Norfolk State Spartans football coaches Paul Quinn Tigers football coaches Tennessee State Tigers football coaches High school football coaches in Mississippi Mississippi Valley State University faculty University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty People from Sumrall, Mississippi People from Laurel, Mississippi Coaches of American football from Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople