35-year veteran of USC baseball program stepping away
Longtime trainer Brainard Cooper is leaving his role with South Carolina baseball and men’s soccer to take a new job within the USC athletics department training room working with insurance, the programs announced Friday. Cooper had been with the Gamecocks for 35 years.
In statements posted to Twitter, USC athletics director Ray Tanner called Cooper an “icon in the world of sports medicine,” and men’s soccer coach Mark Bernson said “every player or coach who has been in our program knows how much Brainard cares about them and their health.”
Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston said in a statement that Cooper’s “passion and unwavering concern for the best interests of our baseball players will never be forgotten,” crediting him with helping “to make so many great moments in our history.”
Cooper will be replaced by Bryan Wells, who spent the past four years as the head athletic trainer at Kentucky, The State confirmed. Gamecock Central first reported the move.
This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 1:59 PM.