Long before his latest movie Sinners was up for 16 Oscars, acclaimed director Ryan Coogler was a standout college football player at Sacramento State.
This put him on the path to success he's currently on. In CBS Sports' latest piece on Coogler, they broke down his story from his beginnings to the Oscars.
While at Sacramento State, Coogler led “by example,” and he was “popular among his teammates for his positive attitude, often staying late to help quarterbacks get more work in.” This type of leadership is vital to filmmaking, as directors are like the quarterbacks of movie sets.
However, his playing career didn't last forever. Coogler missed the 2006 season with a hand injury. This resulted in him being designated a medical redshirt, allowing him to return for his fifth year of eligibility.
Unfortunately, he would suffer another injury while playing 7-on-7, and this came right before his return to the field. At this point, he started looking at life beyond football.
From there, Coogler took a scholarship offer from USC to pursue his filmmaking career, and the rest is history. One of his teammates at Sacramento State, Brett Shelton, recalled Coogler being “nervous” as this was a “big leap of faith.”
Luckily, Cooger is a “worker,” and he pushed through any adversity he faced. Coogler has impressed everyone, including his former coach at Sacramento State, Steven Mooshagian, who claims the only thing that has changed about Coogler is his “bank account got bigger” since his rise to fame.
Now, Coogler is less than a week away from finding out if his fifth feature film, Sinners, is winning any Oscars. It received a record 16 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Coogler.
This is not his first dance, though. Several of his past films have also received Oscar nominations. Black Panther previously received seven nominations and won three at the 2019 ceremony.
