On March 22, 2011, Ed Cooley became the 15th head coach at Providence College. He came to Providence College after spending five seasons as the head coach at Fairfield University.

In 10 seasons at Providence College, Cooley has posted a 194-135 mark. In 15 seasons as a head coach, Cooley has a 286-204 record. When Cooley was hired in 2011, the Friars had finished under .500 in six of the 10 previous seasons and had been to just one NCAA Tournament (2004) in that 10-year span. Since his hiring, Cooley led the Friars to seven consecutive post-season tournament berths from 2013-19 (2019-20 there was no post-season due to the Covid-19 pandemic), including a school-record five straight NCAA Tournament appearances (2014-18).  He also guided the team to the 2014 BIG EAST title.

The 2020-21 squad posted a 13-13 mark and a 9-10 record in BIG EAST play.  The team was led by Nate Watson and David Duke.  Both players earned Second Team All-BIG EAST accolades.  Duke also was named Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America.

In 2019-20, the Friars had the best mid-season improvement of any Division I team as the squad improved from 6-6 to finish the year with a 19-12 mark  - a NET ranking improvement of 119 spots (156 to 37).  The team posted a 12-6 record in BIG EAST action and finished in fourth place.  The 12 league wins was the most ever by a Friar squad.  In addition, the Friars defeated every BIG EAST team at least once - another first for the program.  The Friars finished the season winning six consecutive games and eight of the last 10.  Five of those wins occurred in February over ranked teams, which marked just the fifth time in the history of college basketball that a team posted five wins over ranked squads in a calendar month during the regular season.

In August of 2019, Cooley served as the Head Coach of Team USA at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.  His squad was a group of BIG EAST All-Stars, including Alpha Diallo, Nate Watson, David Duke and AJ Reeves.  Despite having the youngest team at the tournament, Cooley led the squad to a Bronze Medal.  

For full bio: https://friars.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/ed-cooley/597