Arch Manning's Dad: Who is Cooper Manning?

The Manning family is, in many ways, the first family of football. For generations, excellent NFL quarterbacks have come out of the family. The next of those quarterbacks is expected to be Arch Manning, an incredibly exciting quarterback prospect who committed to Texas after one of the most interesting recruiting battles in recent memory. Who is Arch Manning’s dad? Cooper Manning, is the Manning brother who is often forgotten about by football fans and the dad to Arch.

Who is Cooper Manning?

Cooper Manning is Archie Manning’s firstborn son, and the older brother of Peyton and Eli Manning. He grew up in New Orleans, where his father was an NFL quarterback with the Saints. He followed his father to Ole Miss, but an injury ended his playing career. Because of this, his career hasn’t been in football but in the business sector. Most recently, Manning was made an executive at AJ Capital Partners.

Despite his lack of success in football, Cooper Manning has spent some time in the public eye. In particular, he has appeared on shows like ‘The Book of Manning’ and ‘Manning Hour.’ He even appeared in a self-deprecating role on ‘The Simpsons,’ alongside his brothers.

Why is Cooper Manning Forgotten?

Cooper Manning once joked, “I’d have four Super Bowl rings by now, maybe five. I mean, how hard can it be to win the Super Bowl?” Tinted in that joke, is a wistful dream for the oldest Manning brother. He had, after all, arguably been the best football player among his brothers at one point. A top wide receiver prospect, Manning had all the tools to thrive. At Ole Miss, though, he suffered a massive injury before he could even catch a pass.

With numbness in his hands, he went to the Mayo Clinic for tests. The diagnosis was spinal stenosis. This is the name of what happens when your spinal canal narrows, and normally is a diagnosis reserved for senior citizens, not college freshmen. Still, it ended his career. Paralysis was too likely an outcome of getting hit to risk on football.

Instead of having his own NFL career, Cooper Manning had to watch from the sidelines, living through his brothers. They, luckily enough for Cooper, gave him great careers to live through. His son, Arch Manning, is the next person for him to see the game through. The prestige of Arch’s recruitment has brought Cooper some spotlight, as he guides his son through his decision.

How Cooper Can Impact Arch

A lot of the time, people talk about how Arch’s uncles are going to impact his recruitment. However, Cooper Manning was recruited to play SEC football too. His father, like his grandfather and uncle Eli, chose Ole Miss. That legacy is real, and Arch needs to decide if he wants to be a part of it or go make his own legacy somewhere else. It seems like his family has tried not to pressure him in one way or another, but growing up in a home that rooted for one particular school is always going to affect your outlook.

Arch Manning is also going to be the most marketable quarterback in the new world of NIL. He needs a strong mentor to make sure he’s making the right choices, and that person is going to be his father, Cooper. So, the decisions Arch makes in this world are going to be largely based on the advice of his father.

Cooper Manning also knows the game has changed. He told ESPN’s Chris Fowler, “The whole game of college football seems to have changed in the past three to four months. With the coaches moving around a lot more freely, the element of these big signing bonuses for classes and everything. No one sits around and says, ‘I’m going to be a backup and work for it for two to three years.’ It’s onto the next thing.'” This heavily implies that he knows that Arch is in a brave new world. However, Cooper also said, “We’re trying to do things like they used to be done, back 15 years ago. Just go pick a school you like, coaches you like, a place you think you’d be happy if you weren’t playing football.”

What’s Next for Arch?

Arch Manning committed to Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns on June 23, 2022. He did so with his first-ever tweet.

Manning will head to a Longhorns quarterback room that also has former five-star signal-caller and one of the class of 2021’s top recruits in Quinn Ewers. Ewers, who will be a junior during the 2023 season, will be the favorite to start the campaign as the upperclassman. That would allow Manning to learn the Longhorns system and adjust to college in his first year on campus, which would ideally set him up to be the starter as a redshirt freshman. It would be a similar transition as many players have done recently, including Bryce Young and CJ Stroud.