Player Profile: Howard High School’s Cooper Haberern

This Maryland high school player profiles series is presented by the U.S. Army.

Cooper Haberern, a senior shooting guard and small forward for the Howard High School boys’ basketball team, was nominated for the Maryland high school player profiles series by Lions head coach Seth Willingham.

“Cooper is a two-year captain on the basketball team who exemplifies hard work, dedication and commitment to his teammates, coaches and school,” Willingham said. “He has a 4.3 GPA and has committed to play college basketball next year at [Division III] Susquehanna University. He gets to school early in the morning to work out before school, then again after. Cooper’s future is bright and he is very deserving of this award.”

Haberern was a first-team All-Howard County selection last season as a junior, when he finished second in the county in scoring. He saw a massive improvement from his sophomore to his junior year, going from 4.0 points per game to 17.0.

Haberern also plays baseball for Howard. He answered some questions about being nominated.

PressBox: What’s it mean for you to be selected by your coach like this?

Cooper Haberern: It’s really nice that [Willingham] nominated me. This was my first year playing for him. We had a great season this past season so it’s really awesome to be nominated.

PB: How did you get into basketball, what do you love about the sport, and how did you become as good as you are?

CH: I got into the sport really young. I played just rec basketball up until about sixth grade. My best friend was playing travel so he asked me to come try out, [and I] made the team. Ever since then, every year I just slowly got better and better. The best thing about basketball for me is just going out there and being able to just go hard for 60 minutes with no rules. Somehow just releasing all your energy out there, which is what I love about the game.

PB: Between baseball and basketball, what’s your favorite sport?

CH: Basketball’s definitely my favorite.

PB: How hard was the pandemic, sports-wise, when baseball got canceled? What were you doing to stay busy?

CH: I wasn’t as disappointed that it was canceled just because we just got off a long basketball season. I was mentally and physically tired. I would have loved to play baseball. But just to stay busy that time, I just started working hard at both sports with all the free time I had. Just working out and just trying to get better at both.

PB: Why did you commit to Susquehanna?

CH: Susquehanna, I felt, was just the best fit for me, for all aspects of life. Basketball-wise, I feel like I really fit well in the program with their style of play. I love coach [Frank] Marcinek and what he has going on there. And then academically, they have a really nice business school, which I’ve always known I wanted to do — specifically finance, which is a place they specialize in.

To nominate an athlete or team for a future U.S. Army Player/Team Profile, visit PressBoxOnline.com/Impact.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Cooper Haberern