Jett, Cooper move up the ladder

Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 8/21/19

For two former outstanding Owensville Dutchmen baseball players, they now find themselves moving on up the coaching ladder at their respective schools.

Andrew Jett and Ryan Cooper recently …

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Jett, Cooper move up the ladder

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For two former outstanding Owensville Dutchmen baseball players, they now find themselves moving on up the coaching ladder at their respective schools.

Andrew Jett and Ryan Cooper recently became a head coach at the high school level and an assistant coach at the college level respectively.

Graduating from Owensville High School in 2007, Jett began his collegiate baseball playing days at St. Louis Community College - Meramec for two years before playing his final two years at Westminster College in Fulton.

Shortly after graduation from Blue Jay country, Jett was an assistant baseball coach at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.

Following two years in Lion country, Jett has spent the previous four years teaching high school math and coaching baseball at Parkway West High School in Ballwin.

Paying his dues over the last six years, Jett will be in the third base coaches box as the head coach of the Parkway West Longhorns baseball program this coming spring.

“I am incredibly proud of Andrew Jett and his new position at Parkway West (High School) as the new head baseball coach,” former Dutchmen head and assistant baseball coach Kevin Lay said. “I remember Andrew playing a lot of infield for us and always exhibited an incredibly high baseball IQ whether he was in the field on defense or in the batter’s box.”

During his career in a Dutchmen baseball uniform, Jett played for former head coaches Bill Seamon and Greg Williams along with his father and former assistant coach Mark ‘Pete’ Jett.

Following Jett’s graduation, another outstanding Dutchmen baseball player was just getting his feet wet on the field.

Graduating from OHS in 2011, Cooper also played for Williams during his freshman season in 2008 before Casey Fisher took over in the third base coaches box for the Dutchmen from the springs of 2009-11.

Some would argue that he was one of the best high school baseball players to come through Owensville.

“I would argue he’s one of the best, if not the best high school player to come through Owensville,” former Dutchmen head baseball coach Casey Fisher said. “His stats do most of the talking. But beyond stats, Ryan had a great baseball IQ and a desire to be the best.” 

During Cooper’s days as a Dutchmen, former OHS head and assistant baseball coach Kevin Lay was the head coach down the road for Belle’s Tigers.

“Ryan (Cooper) was a pleasure to coach while at OHS and a nightmare to coach against (when I was head coach at Belle),” Lay said.

After his days at Owensville, Cooper took the junior college route playing his first two years at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City before spending his final two seasons of college baseball on the east coach at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina.

Prior to joining the EIU staff, Cooper worked on the staff at Maple Woods along with serving as a head coach in the Mid Plains Summer League.

“I’m really excited for Ryan,” Fisher said. “Ryan will succeed because of his great work ethic and passion for the game of baseball.”

Serving as a volunteer assistant coach last spring for the Panthers of Eastern Illinois University (EIU), Cooper was hired in late July as a full-time staff member within the EIU Panther baseball program.

“Eastern Illinois is lucky to have a guy like Ryan on their staff,” Fisher said. “I’m sure he will bring that love for the game that he has as well as the knowledge he’s gained throughout his career.”

Cooper’s primary responsibility will be working with the Panthers hitters after helping the team hit .296 last season ranking them 26th in NCAA Division I Baseball.

“I am pretty sure that he could legitimately get into the batter’s box and out-hit many of his players still,” Lay said. “He has always been a humble young man with so much raw talent for baseball with something like that not even crossing his mind.”

Connections played a role in landing the EIU job according to Cooper.

“When I was coaching at Maple Woods, I got into contact with Blake Beemer,” Cooper said. “At that time, he was the recruiting coordinator here at EIU and now fortunately that is what I’ll be at EIU this year.”