Michael Bacon has had one dream throughout his coaching career: to be a head boys’ basketball coach in the Abilene ISD. That dream became reality April 11 when AISD Executive Director of Athletics Jim Garfield announced that Bacon had been hired as the boys’ head basketball coach at Cooper High School.
Bacon has been at Cooper since June 2018, when he was hired as an assistant girls’ basketball coach. He joined the boys’ program as an assistant in time for the 2019-20 season, and with his help, the Coogs have won 65 games, two district titles, and made the playoffs in all four seasons. He’s been responsible for assisting in all aspects of the program, specifically working with the team’s defense, scheduling, practice planning, off-season program, and scouting.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be named the head boys’ basketball coach at Cooper High School,” Bacon said. “Over the last five years, I have found a home here at Cooper, and I am ecstatic that this will continue to be home in my new role. Growing up in Abilene, my dream at a young age was to be a head basketball coach in the AISD. This is truly a dream come true. We have built something special within our basketball program at Cooper, and I am honored to have the opportunity to lead it.”
Bacon is a 2012 graduate of Abilene Christian University with a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies who earned his graduate degree in Human Communication from ACU in 2015. As a college senior, he was hired as the boys’ head basketball coach at Abilene Christian High School. He found immediate success, leading the Panthers to a 26-5 record and the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) Class 2A state championship, the program’s first title in 30 years.
The following year, he led the Panthers to a 27-4 record and a runner-up finish at the state tournament. Those two state tournament appearances marked the first back-to-back appearances in the state’s final four for the Panthers since 1977-78 and 1978-79.
In those two seasons, Bacon’s teams had a 53-9 record, won two district titles, made two state tournament appearances, held a 23-1 record against TAPPS opponents, and went undefeated in district games. He was twice named the Abilene Reporter-News’ All-Big Country Coach of the Year.
He spent one season (2013-14) as a graduate assistant coach for ACU’s men’s basketball team before being hired as the head boys’ basketball coach at Ballinger High School in June 2015. He led the Bearcats to the playoffs in his only season in Ballinger, posting Ballinger’s first winning season since 2012.
He then spent two seasons as the varsity assistant basketball coach (and head junior varsity coach) at Irving High School, which was part of the most demanding basketball districts in Texas: District 7-6A, which included DeSoto, Duncanville, Cedar Hill, and South Grand Prairie. After two seasons in the Metroplex, Bacon returned to Abilene in June 2018 when he was hired as CHS assistant girls’ basketball coach before Conover hired him to join the boys’ basketball staff before the 2019-20 school year.
Among his other duties, Bacon was an assistant coach on the softball team and, this year, is an assistant coach for the girls’ track and field team. Bacon also excels as a history teacher, earning Cooper High School Teacher of the Year honors in 2021-22.
“Throughout the interview process, I witnessed a man with passion, knowledge, and love for the game and the students he coaches,” Garfield said. “Coach Bacon earned the right to be the head boys’ basketball coach at Cooper High School, and we’re looking forward to success on and off the court.”
