Dick Cooke Named Auxiliary Coach for USA Olympic Baseball Team
7/3/2008 10:48:06 AM | Baseball
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson baseball coach Dick Cooke is headed back to the Olympics. The 19-year head coach of the Wildcats will serve as an auxiliary coach on manager Davey Johnson's staff for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
It's the second time in his career Cooke has been a coach for the US Olympic Team. He was a member of Tommy Lasorda's staff at the 2000 Olympics in Australia, where Team USA won the gold medal.
Cooke joins hitting coach Reggie Smith, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann and bench coach Rick Eckstein on the staff, which recently led Team USA?to the gold medal in the 2007 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) World Cup in Chinese Taipei last November.
This will be Cooke's seventh coaching stint for USA Baseball. He was a member of the staff for the 2006 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Havanna, Cuba, where Team USA finished first and qualified for the Olympics in Beijing. Cooke also coached for Team USA at the 1999 Pan Am Games, where the U.S. won the silver. He served as the pitching coach for the College National Team that went 27-2 and won the Silver Medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic.
As part of a tuneup for the Olympics, the 2008 Team USA Olympic trial team will be featured against the World Team as part of Taco Bell® All-Star Sunday at Yankee Stadium in New York July 13. The game will begin at 12:30 p.m. (EDT) and will be broadcast live by ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the XM All-Star Futures Game on XM 175 in addition to its other comprehensive live coverage from New York. Taco Bell All-Star Sunday is the first of three days of All-Star events at Yankee Stadium, culminating with the 79th All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 15.
Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America, USA Baseball and the 30 Major League Baseball Clubs, selected the 25-man rosters for both the U.S. Team and the World Team. Each Major League organization is represented, and the World Team features players from 10 different countries and territories. Players from all full-season Minor Leagues were eligible to participate.
The final Team USA roster will be decided July 16, and the squad will play four games against Team Canada Aug. 1-4 at the USA?National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and Durham Bulls Athletic Park before departing for Beijing Aug. 5. Team USA opens its Olympic schedule against Korea Aug. 13.
It's the second time in his career Cooke has been a coach for the US Olympic Team. He was a member of Tommy Lasorda's staff at the 2000 Olympics in Australia, where Team USA won the gold medal.
Cooke joins hitting coach Reggie Smith, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann and bench coach Rick Eckstein on the staff, which recently led Team USA?to the gold medal in the 2007 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) World Cup in Chinese Taipei last November.
This will be Cooke's seventh coaching stint for USA Baseball. He was a member of the staff for the 2006 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Havanna, Cuba, where Team USA finished first and qualified for the Olympics in Beijing. Cooke also coached for Team USA at the 1999 Pan Am Games, where the U.S. won the silver. He served as the pitching coach for the College National Team that went 27-2 and won the Silver Medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic.
As part of a tuneup for the Olympics, the 2008 Team USA Olympic trial team will be featured against the World Team as part of Taco Bell® All-Star Sunday at Yankee Stadium in New York July 13. The game will begin at 12:30 p.m. (EDT) and will be broadcast live by ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the XM All-Star Futures Game on XM 175 in addition to its other comprehensive live coverage from New York. Taco Bell All-Star Sunday is the first of three days of All-Star events at Yankee Stadium, culminating with the 79th All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 15.
Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America, USA Baseball and the 30 Major League Baseball Clubs, selected the 25-man rosters for both the U.S. Team and the World Team. Each Major League organization is represented, and the World Team features players from 10 different countries and territories. Players from all full-season Minor Leagues were eligible to participate.
The final Team USA roster will be decided July 16, and the squad will play four games against Team Canada Aug. 1-4 at the USA?National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and Durham Bulls Athletic Park before departing for Beijing Aug. 5. Team USA opens its Olympic schedule against Korea Aug. 13.
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