James Koop recently retired from his duties as the head football coach at AGWSR. He was the program’s head coach for 10 seasons, and spent 27 seasons total among Northwestern College, AGWSR, Alden and Northeast Hamilton.
When he took over as the head coach for his alma mater, he had a mission to positively impact student-athletes beyond the game.
“I said when I became head coach, the goal is, yeah, you want to win ball games, but that can’t be your mission as a head coach,” Koop says. “Your mission needs to be helping young men become good fathers, good husbands, and good community leaders someday. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like losing. Never have, but football’s a tool to greater things. And I hope the kids that I’ve coached over the years and the people I’ve coached with and associated with understand that.”
He says throughout his coaching career, he’s seen some changes to the game. But none are more impactful than the recent trickle-down effect of the college transfer portal.
“The biggest change I’ve seen has happened in the last five years, and it’s trickled down from college. And it’s also something that disappoints me, the transfer portal mentality. Iowa State’s women’s basketball right now, 10 out of 12 girls left. Not completely, but we we’ve lost the idea of ‘This is my home. This is where I want to win. And if we’re not winning, I want to work hard enough to rebuild it.’ It’s not an AGWSR problem. It’s a societal problem that if we’re not winning instantly, if we’re not getting enough playing time instantly, we’re going to go somewhere else.”
He hopes to have taught important life lessons along the way.
“Off and on over the years, I’ve talked to the kids about handling adversity, because it’s not about handling adversity on the football field. It’s about when you’re, God forbid this happened to anybody, but you’re 40-years-old and the doctor comes in and says your wife has cancer. That’s adversity. Or you go and serve our country, and you come home with PTSD. That’s adversity. Hopefully little things we did in high school football helped prepare them for bigger adversities that they might, God forbid, have to deal with in the future, so that they know when bad happens, you don’t quit. And you just keep plugging away, finding a way.”
During his time as AGWSR Head Coach, the teams combined to go 43-44 with two playoff appearances. Five players earned all-state honors, and four were selected to play in the Shrine Bowl.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdvHCd64lyM?si=pSw3s7UqqXXKfnCN&w=560&h=315]
