Career
He has previously been the head coach of rugby union Super Rugby side, the Hurricanes. In his playing days, Cooper was also loose forward for the Taranaki province. Eight years after his playing career ended with retirement at Taranaki, Cooper was back with Taranaki, working as assistant coach from 1995.
He went on to fulfil the same role for Taranaki in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and was then appointed Taranaki head coach in 1999 after Jed Rowlands was appointed to succeed Graham Henry at the Auckland Blues.
Cooper remained as head coach from 1999 to 2002. In 2001 he guided the New Zealand Colts side for a season and in 2002 was the assistant coach at the Crusaders.
Following the dismissal of Graham Mourie as Hurricanes coach Cooper was appointed to take over the franchise and came to prominence by guiding them to the semi-finals in two of his three seasons in charge. He signed an extension to his contract in 2007, which took him through until 2009.
He latter stepped down as Hurricanes coach following the 2010 Super 14 season.
In 2005 he was appointed to coach one of the All Blacks trial teams and the Junior All Blacks alongside Jamie Joseph. Cooper then returned to Taranaki as head coach in 2010. On 23 July 2013, New Zealand Rugby announced Colin Cooper as the new head coach of the Maori All Blacks.
