Baseball: McHenry’s Cooper Cohn was meant to play for NIU coach Ryan Copeland

Cooper Cohn’s dive into “free agency” could not have worked out better.

A little more than a week after the McHenry catcher reopened his recruiting, he is back with the coach he wanted all along, and will play at a level higher than initially planned.

Cohn decommitted to NCAA Division II Illinois-Springfield on June 19 after Prairie Stars coach Ryan Copeland, who was highly successful in four seasons, was hired as Northern Illinois University’s head coach.

After numerous phone calls and several anxious moments, Cohn announced Tuesday that he will join Copeland in DeKalb and become a Huskie. He will accept a partial scholarship to play for a team close to home and a university with which he is quite familiar.

“It’s been a rollercoaster. It’s been crazy, kind of hectic, very long conversations on the phone, talking to a couple schools,” Cohn said. “I got to talk to coach Copeland a couple times and went down there and I was sold. I grew up around NIU. NIU football was a big thing for my grandma (Colleen Blankenhorn). I watched a lot of football with her. I got to watch them win a few MAC championships as well.

“I got to see the school last week and kind of felt like a kid in a candy story the whole time. It was so cool, I got to see all the trophies and now getting to wear their jersey and be on the baseball field for them is going to be pretty awesome.”

Cohn also is a baseball legacy since his grandfather, Bill Blankenhorn, played baseball and basketball at NIU.

“So I get to be a part of a program that has been in the family for a while,” Cohn said. “I’m super pumped about that.”

Cohn committed to UIS during his junior season, before he helped the Warriors reach the Class 4A State Tournament semifinals. Copeland’s teams were 131-38 in his four seasons as head coach; he worked the previous four seasons as the Stars’ pitching coach.

UIS pitching staff led D-II teams with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings and the Stars finished 36-15.

Cohn had an outstanding senior season as he hit .408 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs, with an area-best 26 extra-base hits. He was voted by Fox Valley Conference coaches as the league’s representative for the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Region team.

Cohn was named to the IHSBCA Class 4A All-State team and the Northwest Herald All-Area first team. He was set to join the Stars when he recently received a text about Copeland, one of the youngest D-I coaches in the nation at 35, getting the NIU job.

“I had two reactions. I was super happy for coach, that’s a huge honor and I know it was something he’d been working for for a while,” Cohn said. “But for me, instantly, I kind of panicked. I was going to play for him, I was kind of set and now he’s not there.

“He texted me personally and asked if he could give me a phone call that day. He said, ‘I want you to come with us.’ I was stoked. I was trying to figure everything out and made sure I wasn’t breaking any rules and going about everything the right way.”

Cohn decommitted and started receiving calls. While not naming schools, he said there were multiple schools at different levels which showed interest. Fortunately for Cohn, NIU was one of those and still had some scholarship money available.

“I wanted to be around the best baseball minds I can be around,” said Cohn, a three-year starter for the Warriors, the last two at catcher. “When talking to coaches, they always ask what your goals are. I tell them a few things: 1. To become the best baseball player I can be and have the most knowledge of the game I can have; 2. I want to win; and 3. I want to have fun. That’s how I made my decision.

“And with Northern I get to be part of maybe putting a program on the map here pretty soon. I have all the faith in the world that coach Copeland’s going to do that. I have the same level of respect (I had for him) that I did before and I’m super excited. He’s going to help me and help that program a lot.”

Northern Illinois has not had a winning record since 2011, which is something Cohn hopes he can help turn around. Warriors coach Brian Rockweiler is thrilled that things worked out like they did for his catcher.

“I think it’s awesome. He gets to play Division I baseball for the coach he originally committed to play for,” Rockweiler said. “He also will be close to his family, friends and former coaches to get to see him play quite a bit. He also will hopefully be a part of a turnaround for NIU baseball. I definitely feel that it is a great opportunity.”

McHenry assistant coach Zach Badgley is one of four brothers who played for the Huskies.

Cohn leaned on former Richmond-Burton catcher Brandon Bannon, who had a good career at UIS, for advice. Bannon played for the Pro Player Canes travel program, which now is the GRB Illinois Rays, which Cohn plays for.

“I worked with him in offseasons. He would be there when we had hitting nights. I got to know him really well,” Cohn said. “When I made my decision on Springfield I called him. He was a big help in this decision finally at the end. I’ve been texting back and forth for about a week here now. He was a great help in my decision-making and everything.”