The AGWSR girls basketball team will have a new head coach next season. David Koop, a 2022 AGWSR graduate, was recently hired for the position, replacing Mike Finger.
Koop looks forward to coaching alongside those who coached him in high school.
“Being 20-years-old, I know there’s a lot of doubts on my ability to be able to do this as a head coach,” Koop says. “And I take that as a challenge and not something I need to run and be afraid of. And I have all these people I’ve coached with the last two years who were my coaches in high school that I can go to with any problems I have or questions, or if I need suggestions on anything. I’m not going into this thinking that it’s my way or the highway. I understand that I’m still learning a whole lot and I have a whole lot still to learn. So using people that have been mentors for me and just being able to go bounce ideas off of them is a huge part of the reason why I think being in this role for me at 20-years-old is not as big of a scary thing for me as it could be.”
Koop has served on the staff for football, middle school boys basketball, high school boys basketball, middle school baseball and high school girls track & field.
He’s the son of head football coach James Koop, and says he’s learned some valuable lessons about coaching from his father.
“Watching him be a head coach and just understanding that not everybody in the community is going to like what you do. Not everybody in the community is going to agree with you all the time, but you just have to flush that and let it go and know that you’re here to do the right thing, and you care about the school and you’re trying your best to put your athletes in the best position to be successful. And that doesn’t always necessarily mean winning. Obviously at the varsity level, that’s what the goal is every night. But developing players, building those relationships and then just seeing where the season. Having him as a mentor for me, just watching what he does as a head coach. Football and basketball aren’t the same thing, but still there’s a lot of takeaways you can take from football practices and practice plans and just instill that into basketball.”
Coming off a 13-10 season, the Cougars are expected to return three starters next season.
