Upcoming Event: Cross Country at Roanoke XC Invitational on October 18, 2025 at 10:15 a.m.
/
10:15 a.m.
Cross Country
at Roanoke XC Invitational
Photo by: California Baptist Athletics
Meet the Staff: Adam Cooke
7/28/2021 2:00:00 PM | Cross Country, Track & Field
DURHAM, N.C. – As the 2021-22 cross country and track & field season approaches, several new faces have joined the Duke coaching staff. Throughout the rest of the summer, join us as we continue our introduction of the people behind the title.
Joining the distance units after his tenure as an assistant coach at California Baptist is new assistant coach Adam Cooke. Cooke spent the past three seasons with the Lancers, helping the men's and women's programs win four combined Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles, with three straight in women's cross country and one for the men.
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When did you first get involved in cross country/track & field?
Cooke: "I grew up around the sport and I was a very active kid. My brother started running in middle school and I shortly followed. We went to a very successful high school program down in Florida and I got an opportunity to run varsity in middle school and be a part of the state winning team. I had some medical issues and was sidelined for about two to two and a half years, which was most of my high school career. Our cross country team was like a lot of places; it was family. So, I stayed super involved and my coach didn't really have an assistant, so I kind of just got under his wing. I was kind of his assistant in a way in high school. I got an opportunity to run my senior year, but I hadn't run for two and a half years really other than here or there."
When did you know you wanted to be a coach?
Cooke: "I knew that running at a high level was not in the cards for me, but I loved the sport. So, when I went to college, I went to another school in the ACC [Georgia Tech] and I pretty much begged the coach there to let me hang around and help out. After about a semester, he finally gave in and I spent my undergraduate years as a student assistant, manager, whatever the title was, and I felt like I got a four-year apprenticeship in college coaching. I ended up getting a degree in computer science."
"Growing up, I wanted to be Steve Jobs, but as I got into the thick of my college curriculum, and I was doing internships, had a part-time job that I worked during the year doing software engineering, I just didn't enjoy going to work every day and the best part of my day was going to practice. When I got closer to graduating, I had job opportunities in my career field, but I wanted to be a coach. I have a very, very supportive family, but in general when you tell people you're going to leave one of the best engineering schools in the world and not pursue that and take a big pay cut to get into college coaching they kind of look at you funny. But I know that that's what I wanted to do, that's what made me happy, and I felt like I could have a much bigger impact on people and on the world being a coach, than I could sitting behind a computer every day. I think back to the biggest influences in my life after my parents and it's always been my coaches and I wanted to be that for someone else."
What is your most proud or lasting moment as an athlete or coach?
Cooke: "The first one that comes to mind is actually when I was in eighth grade and it was my first year running varsity cross country. Like I said, I came from a very successful program down in Florida and the team had won two state championships back-to-back before. So, we go into the state cross country meet ranked third and I'm the fifth man. My brother, who was a great runner, had been hurt a little bit but was still towing the line because he wanted to help the team. We weren't supposed to even sniff the win. We were supposed to finish third and maybe on a great day take second, but we ended up winning by one point. I was young, but I think that's the first time I really got to experience the power of belief, especially in the team and really laying it out there for your teammates and having them do the same for you. That's kind of stuck with me with our sport with the better culture you can create and having an environment where you're not only working together, but working for each other. I've seen some really special things happen on teams, personally, but also just whether it be from the outside looking in or as a coach, when people really are on the same page, fighting for each other in a race, that power of belief and teamwork can go a really long way. That's carried over into my coaching and the type of environments I want to create."
"From a coaching standpoint, when I was at Georgia Tech, hanging around and learning, my last year there they won the 4x800 at the Penn Relays. That was just an incredible moment. It's something I know that Coach [Alan] Drosky the coach there had wanted to do for a long, long time, but a year or two before, being in a position where they thought they might be able to win and then dropping the baton or getting tripped or whatever, and just seeing it finally come to fruition with those guys was exciting."
What initially attracted you to Duke?
Cooke: "Well, as somebody who went to another school in the conference, I've always known about Duke. A couple of people I grew up with came and ran at Duke, so I was familiar with Duke from that standpoint. I had never been on campus before, but I knew what Duke was. A beautiful campus, a beautiful forest, you've got elite academics, but you've got elite athletics as well. It always just struck me as a place where you can be great here. Not just as a team, but individuals could really come here and get a championship level education, but also compete for championships. There's not many places out there that you've got such strong academics and such strong athletics across the board.
"After talking to Coach [Shawn] Wilbourn, his vision for the program going forward and his experiences here in the past, where the program has been, where the program is now and where the program wants to go, it was just an exciting opportunity for me that I was really fired up about."
What is the first Duke experience you'd like to have?
Cooke: "Getting to be here for Coach K's last season is great timing, so I'd love to experience that. From what I can tell, all the sports here, you can tell there is a commitment to all the sports across the board and they really strive for success in everything they do, and it starts from the top down. It sounds to me that all the sports are supportive of each other and there is a lot of school spirit and comradery here and just experiencing that."
What is something people may not know about you?
Cooke: "Well, one, I was born abroad. My dad was in the Air Force and was stationed in England when I was born, so I was born in the U.K. But, my dad's whole side of the family, and most people don't believe me when I say this, is from Jamaica. There's still a lot of family down there, a lot of family in South Florida, Canada and they are kind of all over now, but my grandparents were both from Jamaica. My dad is a naturalized citizen and was born in England as well and moved around a bit but ended up in Florida."
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
Cooke: "I think whenever you have a coaching transition, it's hard across the board. The first year is really just establishing, coming in and getting to know the team, the culture and kind of establishing us as coaches, our values and expectations and goals. Really just getting to know the team and helping them accomplish what they want to accomplish. They've made a lot of progress over the last couple of years, and they want to try and continue that moving forward and we just want to help them do that. It's not that we are coming in and saying this is what we want to do and get on board. There's always going to be some of that, and things are going to be done a little differently, but I think the big thing is to try and continue the progress that they've made as a team and establish a culture, an atmosphere that can help us be successful moving forward."
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To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."
Â
#GoDuke
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Joining the distance units after his tenure as an assistant coach at California Baptist is new assistant coach Adam Cooke. Cooke spent the past three seasons with the Lancers, helping the men's and women's programs win four combined Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles, with three straight in women's cross country and one for the men.
Â
When did you first get involved in cross country/track & field?
Cooke: "I grew up around the sport and I was a very active kid. My brother started running in middle school and I shortly followed. We went to a very successful high school program down in Florida and I got an opportunity to run varsity in middle school and be a part of the state winning team. I had some medical issues and was sidelined for about two to two and a half years, which was most of my high school career. Our cross country team was like a lot of places; it was family. So, I stayed super involved and my coach didn't really have an assistant, so I kind of just got under his wing. I was kind of his assistant in a way in high school. I got an opportunity to run my senior year, but I hadn't run for two and a half years really other than here or there."
When did you know you wanted to be a coach?
Cooke: "I knew that running at a high level was not in the cards for me, but I loved the sport. So, when I went to college, I went to another school in the ACC [Georgia Tech] and I pretty much begged the coach there to let me hang around and help out. After about a semester, he finally gave in and I spent my undergraduate years as a student assistant, manager, whatever the title was, and I felt like I got a four-year apprenticeship in college coaching. I ended up getting a degree in computer science."
"Growing up, I wanted to be Steve Jobs, but as I got into the thick of my college curriculum, and I was doing internships, had a part-time job that I worked during the year doing software engineering, I just didn't enjoy going to work every day and the best part of my day was going to practice. When I got closer to graduating, I had job opportunities in my career field, but I wanted to be a coach. I have a very, very supportive family, but in general when you tell people you're going to leave one of the best engineering schools in the world and not pursue that and take a big pay cut to get into college coaching they kind of look at you funny. But I know that that's what I wanted to do, that's what made me happy, and I felt like I could have a much bigger impact on people and on the world being a coach, than I could sitting behind a computer every day. I think back to the biggest influences in my life after my parents and it's always been my coaches and I wanted to be that for someone else."
What is your most proud or lasting moment as an athlete or coach?
Cooke: "The first one that comes to mind is actually when I was in eighth grade and it was my first year running varsity cross country. Like I said, I came from a very successful program down in Florida and the team had won two state championships back-to-back before. So, we go into the state cross country meet ranked third and I'm the fifth man. My brother, who was a great runner, had been hurt a little bit but was still towing the line because he wanted to help the team. We weren't supposed to even sniff the win. We were supposed to finish third and maybe on a great day take second, but we ended up winning by one point. I was young, but I think that's the first time I really got to experience the power of belief, especially in the team and really laying it out there for your teammates and having them do the same for you. That's kind of stuck with me with our sport with the better culture you can create and having an environment where you're not only working together, but working for each other. I've seen some really special things happen on teams, personally, but also just whether it be from the outside looking in or as a coach, when people really are on the same page, fighting for each other in a race, that power of belief and teamwork can go a really long way. That's carried over into my coaching and the type of environments I want to create."
"From a coaching standpoint, when I was at Georgia Tech, hanging around and learning, my last year there they won the 4x800 at the Penn Relays. That was just an incredible moment. It's something I know that Coach [Alan] Drosky the coach there had wanted to do for a long, long time, but a year or two before, being in a position where they thought they might be able to win and then dropping the baton or getting tripped or whatever, and just seeing it finally come to fruition with those guys was exciting."
What initially attracted you to Duke?
Cooke: "Well, as somebody who went to another school in the conference, I've always known about Duke. A couple of people I grew up with came and ran at Duke, so I was familiar with Duke from that standpoint. I had never been on campus before, but I knew what Duke was. A beautiful campus, a beautiful forest, you've got elite academics, but you've got elite athletics as well. It always just struck me as a place where you can be great here. Not just as a team, but individuals could really come here and get a championship level education, but also compete for championships. There's not many places out there that you've got such strong academics and such strong athletics across the board.
"After talking to Coach [Shawn] Wilbourn, his vision for the program going forward and his experiences here in the past, where the program has been, where the program is now and where the program wants to go, it was just an exciting opportunity for me that I was really fired up about."
What is the first Duke experience you'd like to have?
Cooke: "Getting to be here for Coach K's last season is great timing, so I'd love to experience that. From what I can tell, all the sports here, you can tell there is a commitment to all the sports across the board and they really strive for success in everything they do, and it starts from the top down. It sounds to me that all the sports are supportive of each other and there is a lot of school spirit and comradery here and just experiencing that."
What is something people may not know about you?
Cooke: "Well, one, I was born abroad. My dad was in the Air Force and was stationed in England when I was born, so I was born in the U.K. But, my dad's whole side of the family, and most people don't believe me when I say this, is from Jamaica. There's still a lot of family down there, a lot of family in South Florida, Canada and they are kind of all over now, but my grandparents were both from Jamaica. My dad is a naturalized citizen and was born in England as well and moved around a bit but ended up in Florida."
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
Cooke: "I think whenever you have a coaching transition, it's hard across the board. The first year is really just establishing, coming in and getting to know the team, the culture and kind of establishing us as coaches, our values and expectations and goals. Really just getting to know the team and helping them accomplish what they want to accomplish. They've made a lot of progress over the last couple of years, and they want to try and continue that moving forward and we just want to help them do that. It's not that we are coming in and saying this is what we want to do and get on board. There's always going to be some of that, and things are going to be done a little differently, but I think the big thing is to try and continue the progress that they've made as a team and establish a culture, an atmosphere that can help us be successful moving forward."
Â
To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."
Â
#GoDuke
Â
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