Embracing life as an Auggie

When Amy Cooper started her role as Augsburg athletic director on June 1, she knew she had a lot to learn—although not about the NCAA, student-athletes, or sport administration. She gained that experience throughout her time as senior associate athletics director at the University of St. Thomas, associate athletic director of administration at Howard University, director of athletics at Trinity Washington University, and in coaching roles at South Carolina State University, Southwest Minnesota State University, and Prairie View A&M University.

While she championed the Augsburg mission, Cooper still had a lot to learn about being an Auggie herself.

“I’m the type of person who has to get in, dig in, and see what’s going on,” said Cooper. “I can lead better when I fully understand everything, and I’ve been doing a lot of learning.” Her Augsburg experience has involved a lot of time on the operations side of Auggie Athletics to see how everything functions together.

The biggest surprise, she said, was how familiar Augsburg student-athletes felt to her. “I’ve been surprised by the connection that I feel like I already have with our student-athletes. I feel like I’ve known them for a long time. They’re always speaking, saying hello, being polite.”

Cooper has also been learning about the array of responsibilities Augsburg student-athletes juggle. Beyond coursework and practice schedules, many of them have jobs and other extracurricular commitments. She has worked to emphasize the importance of balance, for both the students and the coaches. “That’s what the Division III model is about, making sure student-athletes have an opportunity to do a lot of different things,” said Cooper. “We’ve got a cross-country runner in band and a hockey player in the choir. When Mohammad Bati ’26 won the MIAC cross country championship for the fourth time, I know he went to work later that day. I was shocked to hear how many students we have participating in different things.”

To supplement that balance, Cooper said it’s important to celebrate classroom accomplishments alongside athletic achievements. Earlier this month, on National First-Generation College Celebration Day, Augsburg Athletics recognized the first-generation student-athletes—both on the football field during a game against Gustavus Adolphus College and on the volleyball court during a game against St. Mary’s University.

“I think it’s so important to do our best to make sure student-athletes are having a great experience at Augsburg in general. They only have four years for it. I want them to live it up before the real world comes,” Cooper said.

There have been plenty of great experiences during the Fall 2025 athletics season: men’s wrestling has ranked number one in the nation, women’s hockey number two, men’s soccer number three, and Bati has experienced tremendous success in cross country. Cooper described the excitement of hosting a semifinals sendoff for the women’s soccer team, when they advanced in the MIAC tournament on November 6.

Cooper’s goals for the future? “I want to keep going. It’s been years of building up to this point for these teams to have this success. We’ve got a lot of other teams working hard to get there. My job now is to bolster and support our coaches and student-athletes as much as possible to add to that success.”

 

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Top image: Amy Cooper began her journey at Augsburg on June 1, 2025, serving as athletic director. (Photo by Courtney Perry)