When he texted Josh McKee, Michael Cooper was taking a career-defying risk. The high school senior had already committed to play football for Ashland (Ohio) University, and he knew McKee, his former AAU teammate, had all but signed on the dotted line to play wide receiver for Ohio Dominican University.

But that didn’t stop Cooper from giving his longtime friend the chance to do something special.

‘If you go, I’ll go,’ Cooper said he texted in 2008, hoping that McKee would play both football and basketball with him at Wittenberg University in Ohio.

‘We signed the same day,’ McKee said. ‘We went in together, and we’re leaving together —hopefully with another championship.’

This basketball season, the duo delivered Wittenberg its first North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship since 2004. But even if the Tigers don’t win a Division-III title, Cooper and McKee will still leave Wittenberg as two of the most prolific athletes in school history.

Combined, the football and basketball teams have won 109 games the last four seasons. McKee owns nearly every receiving record in NCAC history, and Cooper isn’t far behind with 2,548 career receiving yards.

The friends have combined to score 70 touchdowns.

‘They’re two of the most talented pass catchers I’ve ever seen,’ said Tigers football coach Joe Fincham. ‘And to tell you the truth, basketball has a lot to do with that by keeping them in shape.’

Playing wide receiver has its benefits on the hardwood, too. Wittenberg basketball head coach Bill Brown said Cooper and McKee can separate from defenders on fast breaks, and they know how to shield defenders away when they set a pick or go up for a rebound.

Without football season, Cooper said he wouldn’t have a second sense about where McKee is on the basketball court.

That second sense came in handy during a battle for the NCAC division title against Wooster, the NCAC preseason favorites. The Tigers were up 16 at halftime before relinquishing their large lead.

That’s when Cooper said he found McKee out of nowhere.

‘I got a late steal and ran down court, but because I had played with Josh so long, I knew exactly where Josh was going to be,’ Cooper said. ‘I found him in the corner, and he hit another 3. If he didn’t hit that shot, the game might not have gone to overtime, so I guess that’s something we just picked up on in the offseason without knowing it.’

But the offseason really doesn’t exist for Cooper and McKee. Even when they’re expected to catch fly routes and in-cuts for the football team, Cooper and McKee use their days off for shootarounds.

‘It’s like they have no quit in them,’ Brown said. ‘I’m exhausted at the end of basketball season, but they’ve been through a football season on top of that, too, not to mention spring football after our season ends.’

And Cooper and McKee show no signs of slowing down in their senior seasons.

In Wittenberg’s NCAC regular-season-clinching win over DePauw last Wednesday, Cooper scored a season-high 22 points. And on their second senior night this year, Wittenberg won last Saturday with some help from McKee, who scored nine points on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Still, Brown doesn’t know how his two star forwards do it.

Both players have sacrificed a significant chunk of their social lives to remain two-sport athletes at Wittenberg. When football season ends, Cooper and McKee have no longer than two weeks to prepare for the Tigers’ preseason basketball tournaments before they’re plugged back into the starting lineup.

Brown said the rest of his players have no problem with their coach leaving two starting spots open for two football players. Even in Cooper and McKee’s freshman season, a rebuilding year, the duo kept Wittenberg’s streak of 55 consecutive seasons with a .500 record or better alive.

The Tigers were supposed to struggle in 2009, but behind Cooper and McKee, they went 13-13.

‘I owe them for that one,’ Brown said. ‘And I’ll get creative with the scheduling just to accommodate them.’

Now seniors, the longtime teammates are finishing up their final season together. And after four years coaching them, Brown remains impressed with their two-sport balancing act.

‘They’ve had their fun, but they’ve sacrificed so much for both teams,’ Brown said. ‘They’re the type of guys I want my future players to know because they were committed to everything —football, basketball and their studies. And after everything, I’m sure they’ll tell you it was all worth it.’

 

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on February 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets