Steve Cooke (football coach)

Cooke was born in Sheffield, the son of a steelworker and grandson of a coal miner. He played football in his youth at the academy and young professional level at Sheffield Wednesday, but did not pursue a long term professional career.[2] Instead, Cooke turned to coaching at a young age. Cooke began his coaching career as an academy coach with Sheffield Wednesday Football Club at just 22 years old.

At the age of 16, Cooke began studying to become a football coach, earning his FA coaching license and attending Carnegie College. He was hired by Sheffield Wednesday F.C. as a youth team coach at the age of 22. The club were at the time a very successful Premier League team, while Cooke also played a big part in coaching and producing some very good young professionals and teams.

He moved to the United States in 1996 to work as Director of Coaching for the Sereno SC and SC Del Sol youth clubs in Phoenix, Arizona.[2]

After a stint as Technical Director with Neusport FC, in Las Vegas from 2007 to 2010, Cooke was recruited by the Colorado Rapids to coach as development academy director, as well as serving the senior team as an assistant coach under Oscar Pareja and Pablo Mastroeni beginning in 2012.[2] On 15 August 2017, the Rapids announced that they had parted ways with Mastroeni and named Cooke as interim coach through the end of the 2017 season.[3] During Cooke’s time at Colorado Rapids the club won MLS Cup in 2010, qualified for the MLS playoffs on four occasions, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League twice, and in 2016 had the club’s best points total ever, narrowly missing out on the regular season championship.

In 2015, Cooke was also the coach for the MLS All-Star team, with players like Kaka, David Villa, Clint Dempsey, and many other top international players included in the squad. The team went onto win 2-1 against Tottenham Hotspurs who were managed by Mauricio Pocettino.