EARLY – Early Longhorn senior Vic Cooper is continuing his basketball and academic career right down the road at Howard Payne University.

Cooper, the Defensive MVP of District 8-3A, helped guide the Longhorns to a 22-11 overall record, 10-4 district record and third place finish in the league.

Cooper is headed to a Howard Payne program that posted 7-18 overall record and 6-14 mark in American Southwest Conference action and going winless the season prior. The Yellow Jackets fell one win shy of reaching the conference championship in head coach Nadir Dalleh’s first season.

“I remember when I first got I got to meet the Cooper family and Vic,” said Early head coach Eric Davis, who just completed his second year in charge of the program. “It was a pretty exciting moment because I knew Vic was going to be a really awesome person to coach. You have to have kids to build around and I knew Vic would be a big part of that. They’re trying to build at Howard Payne, too, and I can’t imagine a better person to do that with than Vic. It’s been an amazing two years and we’re all going to miss Vic. He’s a great kid and a great talent.”

Cooper stated he chose Howard Payne despite interest from Tarleton and Incarnate Word.

“They’re a lot of reasons, but the biggest one was family and then academics,” said Cooper, who intends to focus his studies on music and education. “Early’s a small school so we’re all like family. Everyone hangs out with each other and we do everything together. It’s nice because it’s like a family and that’s what it’ll be like at Howard Payne.”

As for his goals at Howard Payne, Cooper said, “I just want to keep doing what I’ve been doing at Early – working hard, playing hard, and see what happens.”

Reflecting on what his will remember most of his time as a Longhorn, Cooper said. “Just being with the team and all the times we spent together hanging out, going to all the practices and all the games.”