Report: Texas A&M set to hire former Miami staffer David Cooney in recruiting role

Texas A&M is expected to hire David “Pop” Cooney in a recruiting-related role, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. Cooney spent the last eight seasons at Miami.

Cooney served as Miami’s director of recruiting for three of those years before spending his final two seasons with the program as an assistant wide receivers coach. Cooney had plenty to be proud of with Miami’s wide receiver corps in the 2024 campaign.

Last season, Miami averaged 348.2 receiving yards per game, the third-most in the country. In contrast, Texas A&M averaged just 210.3 receiving yards per outing, ranking No. 87 in college football.

While Zenitz didn’t report that Cooney will be helping out with Texas A&M’s wide receivers, he could recruit the talent necessary for the Aggies’ wide receiver room to take a step forward. Miami had the No. 13 recruiting class in the nation in 2022, Cooney’s final year as Miami’s director of recruiting.

In February, Cooney accepted an offer to be Bowling Green‘s wide receivers coach. However, after Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler left the program to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach only a month later, the Falcons’ next head coach, Eddie George, didn’t retain Cooney on the staff.

Now, it appears that David Cooney will look to contribute in College Station. Cooney will be joining a proven recruiting team.

Texas A&M reeled in the No. 7 2025 recruiting class in the country, according to On3’s Industry Rankings. Moreover, the Aggies currently boast the No. 6 class in the 2026 recruiting cycle. Texas A&M head coach spoke highly of Texas A&M’s incoming freshman class.

“When this started, it was a new staff, it was a new head coach,” Elko said. “We were coming off of a 12-13 stretch in back-to-back years, and there were not a lot of positive vibes out there about Texas A&M football and where we were going.

“We had to work from really ground zero on so many of these kids, of building an image of what Texas A&M football should be, what it will be, what their experience will be like… I think our staff did a phenomenal job of hustling and pushing the messaging to put together what I think is an elite class.”

Texas A&M has plenty of momentum after Elko led the program to an 8-5 record in his debut campaign. With several key returners and even more standout transfers on the roster this year, Texas A&M is hungry to take a leap forward.