In power systems protection, the optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays (DOCRs) is of paramount importance. The coordination of DOCRs in a multi-loop power system is formulated as an optimization problem. The main objective of this paper is to develop the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) for the optimal coordination of DOCRs and minimize the sum of the operating times of all primary relays. The WOA is inspired by the bubble-net hunting strategy of humpback whales which leads toward global minima. The proposed algorithm has been applied to six IEEE test systems including the IEEE three-bus, eight-bus, nine-bus, 14-bus, 15-bus, and 30-bus test systems. Furthermore, the results obtained using the proposed WOA are compared with those obtained by other up-to-date algorithms. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed WOA to minimize the relay operating time for the optimal coordination of DOCRs.