Former UNLV football star Hernandez “Hunkie” Cooper, ’91 BA Criminal Justice, returned to campus in April in the newly created position of director of player development and community engagement under first-year head coach Barry Odom.
Having just completed his eighth season as an assistant coach overseeing wide receivers at San Diego State, Cooper returned to the school where he famously played six different positions during his two-year Rebel career in 1990-91. An Honorable Mention All-American and two-time first team all-conference honoree as a return man, he went on to become a legendary member of the Arizona Rattlers (eventually named the fifth-greatest player in Arena Football League history) and was inducted to the AFL Hall of Fame in 2011.
The Texas native quarterbacked Navarro Junior College to the 1989 national championship before joining the Rebels as a player. He also served as a UNLV radio analyst in 1998-99. Cooper later began his coaching career in the AFL and eventually spent six seasons as head coach of Canyon Springs High School in Las Vegas before moving to the collegiate level. And now, he’s home.
First off, how did you get the name Hunkie?
Being the smallest of my parents’ nine children, but stacked with muscles on my small frame, my sister called me "Lil Hunk" and the "ie" was eventually added to that.
What made you decide to go into college coaching?
I think I have something to give to the young men that want to compete on the collegiate level, and I can still reach and influence them in a positive way. It’s a path that I have navigated and have been fortunate enough to have some success because of the coaches that I had on the collegiate level. I have always wanted to help develop and save young men and my mentors, coach Jeff Horton and coach Rocky Long, blessed me with that opportunity.
Explain what your new position at UNLV is in a couple sentences.
To connect and reconnect the great people in the city of Las Vegas to and to connect to the great people in the city of Las Vegas so we can create an athletics program that’s a consistent winner. It will take everybody to get it done.
Who are your mentors in sports and in life?
My mother, who was a maid her entire life, and my father who was in the military for 22 years to protect us and our freedoms. Also, the coaches who came into my life after having lost my father at the age of 14 and showed me how to be a leader and a man.
Who is your favorite former Rebel in any sport?
I have three! [Former NFL star] Randall Cunningham for his dominance as a quarterback and for being an All-American as a punter but also what he has done for kids. [Former softball pitcher and Olympian] Lori Harrigan for her toughness and dominance on the mound but soft spirit off the diamond. And [Runnin’ Rebel legend] “Fearless” Freddie Banks for playing without a conscious thought — no shot was a bad shot.
What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?
That I love to cook and smoke different cuts of meats as a hobby.
What is your favorite food to cook and or eat?
To cook — is fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese, Texas-style chili beans, rice and cornbread. To eat — is chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and sweet tea to wash it down.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Seeing someone with all the potential in the world but watching them waste it.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Whataburger No. 2 combo with a Dr Pepper shake.
What is the best football road trip you have taken (as a player or coach) and why?
The 1989 National Championship bus ride from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to play — and defeat — Ellsworth Community College in the NJCAA title game. It was a bunch of players that no one believed in, coming together and genuinely loving and playing for one another and our amazing coaching staff led by the late, great Bob McElroy.
What is your best memory as a professional player?
Winning the 1997 AFL title vs. Kurt Warner and the Iowa Barnstormers. I cut my toes off that year before training camp but was able to work my way back with the help of my trainers and score three touchdowns in that game — on a kickoff return, an interception, and a receiving TD. [Cooper badly injured his the big and second toes of his right foot in a lawnmower accident.]
What advice would you give your younger self?
To continue to play baseball and not leave the sport my junior year of high school. I wanted to play QB because everyone said with my size I couldn’t. So, I tried to prove everyone else wrong and should have just proved myself right by staying the course.
What is it like to work for your own alma mater?
It’s been an honor to come back and to be remembered by so many for impacting their lives in some way. To reunite with people that have given so much and expected so little in return. I know the potential here and want to be a part of making it successful as a form of repayment for helping me become the man I am today.
