From Prudential Securities To Lawyer To Pro Coach

Standing in the bowels of Madison Square Garden, far below the ballyhooed blue seats he occupied as a fan, Tampa Bay Lightning Coach Jon Cooper steers the conversation from Series 7 to seven-game series.

“I’ve probably lived a few different lives,” says Cooper, a former Division I lacrosse player, securities salesman and trader and criminal attorney. “I’m probably a little different because of the experiences I’ve gone through.”

The defining moment, according to Cooper, came when his bosses at Prudential Securities asked that he get a Series 7, a license granted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that entitles the holder to sell all types of securities products except commodities and futures.

Having long pondered a career as an agent, Cooper passed and opted for a post in Prudential’s legal department instead. He eventually got his law degree and started his own practice, which he closed in 2003 to pursue a coaching career that included stops with the Green Bay Gamblers, Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch.

“Just being an attorney, how does that help you? You know what that does -- I learned how to argue,” said Cooper, who played lacrosse 3,000 miles away from his British Columbia home at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. “I learned how to stand up and speak in front of people. My job is to convince 23 players to play our structure and go through a wall for us. It’s no different than talking to a jury.”

Whatever Cooper said this season it worked.

The Lightning, owned by former Fidelity Investments stock- picker-turned- hedge-fund manager Jeff Vinik, finished with 108 points, third in the Eastern Conference behind the Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. Tampa Bay ousted the Detroit Red Wings and Canadiens en route to MSG, a building whose traditions are well known by the man who’ll patrol the visitor’s bench for tonight’s Game 2.

“I remember when Carol Alt used to walk by and everyone gave her a standing ovation,” said Cooper, whose club lost the opening game of the series, 2-1. “She was dating Ron Greschner at the time.”

More than anything, working on Wall Street, or Water Street in Cooper’s case, taught the coach the importance of surrounding himself with good people and treating them as he wished to be treated.