Nebraska defensive backs coach Evan Cooper has resigned his duties at Nebraska for personal reasons, a Nebraska official confirmed to Husker247 on Friday evening.
In addition to his work coaching the secondary, Cooper also served as Nebraska’s passing game coordinator and was a trusted eye for head coach Matt Rhule when it came to prospect evaluation.
The news was first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Cooper has been with Rhule nearly every step of the way, spending three seasons in Carolina as the cornerbacks coach and the director of player evaluation.
Prior to that, Cooper was with Rhule for three seasons at Baylor, where he served as the cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. Cooper was also Baylor’s director of player personnel in 2017.
Cooper, who played collegiately at Temple, served as the director of player personnel under Rhule and has been highlighted by the head coach and others on staff for his evaluation abilities with prospects. He was also optimistic in the spring about where this defense can be in Year 2 of Tony White’s scheme.
“When you first learn the defense, you spend most of the time trying to remember what to do. And then as the season goes, you know what to do and now you can focus on what the offense is trying to do,” Cooper said in the spring. “So I can’t really do step three and four if I can’t fully grasp step one. So they need to know it at a level they can teach it. And defenses are reactionary so they need to know it and be able to react within the first blink of the snap.”
He had seen more opportunities for takeaways this spring camp, perhaps because this group has moved past those first initial steps. “I’ve seen more effort for takeaways. I’ve seen a better grasp of the defense as a whole.”
This will mark the second consecutive season where Nebraska will have to replace an assistant coach in the summer. Tight ends coach Bob Wager was dismissed last summer following an arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Cooper was set to make $670,000 this season.
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