Cooper has Pioneers on rise on and off field
First-year Canyon Springs football coach Hunkie Cooper doesn’t couch his aspirations to build the Pioneers into a perennial power on the field.
He’d like to use Northeast League rival and perennial power Las Vegas as a mold.
“Two years ago we were a really good football team,” Cooper said. “But Vegas is a good football team every year. I want this program to get on that level to where consistency and championships, they’re expected.
“You can’t have a hit-and-miss year every other year. You want to build a tradition.”
Cooper’s Pioneers are off to a 2-1 start and won their league opener last week but get a big test when they play at Desert Pines (3-1, 1-0) at 7 tonight.
“They’re probably going to be the most physical team on our schedule so far,” Canyon Springs senior Keith Hartwell said of Desert Pines. “But we’re looking forward to it.”
Canyon Springs already has more wins than it did last season when the Pioneers struggled to a 1-8 record. And while Cooper wants to build a winning tradition, he also knows he can have an impact on his players’ lives off the field.
And the fact that quarterback Tyler Ward is on the field this season shows that Cooper, a former star at UNLV and in the Arena Football League, already is having that impact.
Ward wasn’t eligible to play last season, but Cooper said that might not have been the biggest of his issues.
“Gangs were calling him,” Cooper said.
But the coach met with Ward in the offseason and told him that he didn’t trust him enough to install him at quarterback. He also gave Ward an indication of where his life was headed.
“I told him, 'Right now I’ll by you a three-piece suit before I buy you a pair of cleats, because you’re closer to being dead than playing football,’ ” Cooper said.
Ward responded. He went to summer school, got his grades up and earned his eligibility and Cooper’s trust. He even showed maturity when he was benched last week for violating Cooper’s ban on playing basketball during football season.
“This is my first year back,” Ward said. “I didn’t play last year because I was ineligible, but I’m back now. My grades are all right.”
Grades now are a priority at Canyon Springs. Cooper has after-school study hall sessions for players three days a week. They prepare for standardized tests and make sure they know the deadlines for the NCAA clearinghouse so players have a chance to be eligible to play in college.
“He brings a whole other attitude to the football team,” Ward said. “Experience, reliability and just a great person to be around.”
Cooper has credibility with his players, because like many of them, he comes from a difficult living situation, admitting he grew up “in the projects.”
Cooper and his coaches remind the players that they can do great things.
“You can’t use your living circumstances as an excuse, because we lived it and we’re successful,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the team’s attitude has transformed this season. “Last year at this time, we would have been fighting each other,” he said. “This year, they’re fighting for each other.”
The players say that attitude change started in the offseason, where players showed more dedication to workouts, and that has led to a closer group of players.
“Our summer workouts, everybody did actually try to make it out this year,” Hartwell said. “When you spend almost every day of the summer with these guys, you develop a love for each other.”
And that has translated into better in-season focus, as well.
“Last year, we were out here playing football because it was just football; it was something to do,” said senior running back Deavin Rimmey, who has rushed for 500 yards and eight touchdowns. “This year, we’re taking it more seriously.
“You can tell the focus in the players’ eyes.”
And, thus far, you can see the difference both on and off the field.
“Your grades have to be right, you have to carry yourself with a good attitude,” Ward said. “The coaches have got us prepared everywhere."
