Tulsa’s Justin Cook Selected to Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2015

Tulsa men's soccer assistant coach Justin Cook was recognized last weekend by his alma mater, Ohio State, as he was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.

"It is an incredible honor to be mentioned in the same breath of Archie Griffin, Jack Nicklaus and Jesse Owens, who are also in the "O" Hall of Fame," Cook said. "It was nice to go back and have an opportunity to thank the people who helped me along the way, like my coaches, parents and family, because you don't get there without help and they all played a big part in me getting there."

Cook was a four-time all-Big Ten selection, and is one of only two players in Big Ten history to be awarded both Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2000) and Big Ten Player of the Year (2004) accolades. He led OSU to their first Big Ten regular season title as a senior, and concluded his career ranked second among the school's career leaders in goals (33), as well as the Buckeyes career shots leader (191), season shots leader (71) and tied for first in career assists (18). Cook picked up Soccer America All-Freshmen team honors in 2000, and earned NSCAA and NCAA Third-Team All-America accolades in 2004.

Following his senior season, Cook became the first Buckeye player ever to be invited to the Major League Soccer combine and later was drafted by the Chicago Fire before suffering a career-ending injury. He also played with the Central Florida Kraze of the Premier Development League and was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the 2002 PDL National Championship.

Cook, who is in his ninth season at Tulsa, helped the Hurricane clinch three regular season and five conference tournament championships. He has also helped TU post an overall 99-49-16 record, advance to the NCAA Tournament in six of the eight seasons, including a quarterfinal appearance in 2009, and earn a school-best No. 2 national ranking in 2010. In 2009, Cook helped bring in the top recruiting class in Conference USA according to Top Drawer Soccer, while the 2012 signees were ranked ninth nationally, and five of the last six classes have been ranked among the top-30.

Cook has coached six players to seven M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch Lists, including Chris Clements (2008), Ashley McInnes (2009, 2010), Joe Salem (2009), Justin Chavez (2010, 2011), Austin Neil (2010) and Bradley Bourgeois (2015); three All-Americans in Clements (2007-NSCAA Third Team), McInnes (2009-College Soccer News Third Team) and Neil (2009-NSCAA Third Team); Dominic Cervi who played for the United States U-23 in the 2008 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament; Quinton Duncan who played for the U-20 Canadian National Team in the 2014 Milk Cup in Ireland; and Akeil Barrett and Tony Rocha who were drafted by Orlando City as the 25th overall pick and Sporting KC as the 73rd pick in the 2015 SuperDraft, respectively.

He has also been instrumental in coaching 27 All-Midwest Region players, 17 Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week selections, 11 College Soccer News National Team of the Week honorees, seven Soccer America National Team of the Week selections, three national Players of the Week, four TDS Team of the Season players, three national All-Freshman Team selections and two TDS All-Rookie Squad honorees.

On a conference level, Cook has coached 41 all-conference performers, 30 Players of the Week honorees, 27 All-Tournament Team performers, 13 All-Freshman Team selections and two All-Rookie honorees.

"To be inducted into your athletic Hall of Fame and to be one of only three soccer players that have ever been honored, speaks volumes about what Justin accomplished at Ohio State," Tulsa Head Coach Tom McIntosh said. "For our student-athletes he is a good role model for what our guys should strive to achieve. It is always good to have a guy with that type of success on our staff because our guys can learn from him and what he has been able to accomplish."

Tulsa’s Justin Cook Selected to Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2015

Players Mentioned

Akeil Barrett

Bradley Bourgeois

Quinton Duncan

Austin Neil

Tony Rocha

Related Videos