Virginia Beach, VA - Regent University Director of Athletics Michael W. Allen has announced that 2025 Easton/NFCA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year recipient Brianna (Bri) Cooper has been named the first head coach in Royals softball history. Cooper comes to Regent after serving as an Assistant Coach at Virginia Wesleyan University since 2022.
"We are pleased to announce Bri Cooper as our new Head Softball coach at Regent University", said Allen. "I met Bri last fall and was extremely impressed with her from our initial conversation, all the way through the interview process. Her resume speaks for itself as she was a standout collegiate player, has had much success as an assistant coach at Susquehanna and Virginia Wesleyan, and most importantly, she aligns perfectly with our vision and mission here at Regent. I am excited for her to take this next step in her career and have no doubt she is going to build a competitive program here from day one that Royals Nation will be proud of".
While at Virginia Wesleyan, Cooper made an immediate impact with the Marlins as the program's pitching coach and lead recruiter, along with developing and aligning scouts. Her contributions, especially her work with the pitching staff, played a key role in VWU winning the ODAC regular season and tournament titles, finishing as the NCAA Division III national runner-up and mentoring several All-Conference, NFCA All-Region and NFCA All-America honorees. In addition to her coaching duties, Cooper was promoted to lead mentor of all at-risk student-athletes at VWU, meeting with academically at-risk students and serving the University in retention meetings and plannings.
Prior to her time at Wesleyan, Cooper was an Assistant Coach at Susquehanna University where she was responsible for pitching and bullpen design, opponent scouting, pitch calling, coordinating travel, meals and recruiting. In addition, she was a part of the 2022 NFCA Division III Regional Coaching Staff of the Year and 2022 Landmark Coaching Staff of the Year, while helping the team capture the Conference regular season title, tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Regional Tournament.
Cooper had a successful four-year career at Alderson Broaddus University from 2016-2020. The Grand Prairie, Texas native was a utility player as she threw in the circle and also hit at the plate. During her time as a Battler, Burger appeared in 120 games, making 104 starts. In her 274 at-bats she recorded 40 runs on 79 hits with 18 doubles and 14 home runs earning a career batting average of .288. In the circle she threw 157 and two-thirds innings pitched for a career ERA of 6.13. In 41 appearances, she garnered 22 starts allowing 229 hits resulting in 157 runs scored, 138 earned, while also walking 71 and striking out 37.
With the addition of Softball, Regent increases its intercollegiate athletic offerings to 14. "We are beyond excited to announce the addition of Softball as an official varsity sport to Regent University. The Hampton Roads area has a rich history of producing quality softball talent and thus adding it here at Regent was a no-brainer", said Allen. "We are beginning our inaugural year with the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, are at the cusp of groundbreaking for our new on-campus athletic facilities and adding sports intentionally to support our move to the NCAA as a provisional member this academic year. Like baseball, adding softball supports our growth initiatives and we cannot wait to see this program develop and grow
Coach Cooper will begin September 1, 2025, and begin recruiting for Regent's inaugural season in 2026-2027. If interested in learning more about the team or to speak with Coach Cooper about possibly becoming a Royal, please send an email at regentsoftball@gmail.com
