Cooper back on the sideline for the Packers

Published 2:19 pm Friday, May 14, 2021

MOULTRIE – John Cooper has returned to the Colquitt County football staff after a five-year absence and you couldn’t blame him if he expects to continue to be part of a successful football team.

Cooper was at Colquitt County from 2012-2015 when the Packers went a combined 56-7 and won state championships with 15-0 records the last two seasons.

He left after 2015 to follow former Packers assistant Sean Calhoun, who was named head coach at Carrollton.

In the five seasons Cooper served as the team’s offensive coordinator, the Trojans went a combined 52-11, won two region championships and reached the state quarterfinals each year.

So, over the past nine seasons, Cooper has been associated with teams that have gone 108-18.

“I’m excited to be back,” Cooper said after a recent spring practice session at the indoor facility.

And who could blame him?

Not only was he the inside receivers coach while he was here, helping develop such productive players as Ty Lee and Isaiah Thomas, he and his family were quite involved at First Baptist Church and he still had many friends here.

Cooper couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join Calhoun at Carrollton and become a coordinator and when Calhoun left for Vestavia Hills in Alabama in January, Cooper considered following him west.

But when Packers head coach Justin Rogers called, Cooper decided it was time to return to South Georgia.

Cooper was born in Albany, played football at Worth County under coach Bobby McAllister and got his degree at Valdosta State.

After a year at Howard Middle School in Macon, Cooper returned to Worth County where he coached football and girls basketball at his alma mater for several years before Andy Harden told him of an opening at Colquitt County.

After a year on the ninth-grade staff and coordinating the weight room at Charlie A. Gray Junior High, he joined Rush Propst’s varsity staff in 2013 and was a key part of the Packers success the next three seasons.

He values the experience at Carrollton and the time working with Calhoun, the former Packers offensive coordinator and a man Cooper calls a mentor and a brother.

“We tried to emulate up there what we did here,” Cooper said. “And there are some great people up there that we will cherish.”

Dextra Polite, Ryan Kebler and Earl Jefferson are the only remaining members of those Colquitt County staffs, but Cooper knew enough about football in this part of the state to want to come back south.

“This program speaks for itself,” Cooper said. “Region 1-7A football … there’s nothing like it.

“In the rest of the state there are a lot of great players and good coaches, but Region 1-7A? I jumped at the chance.”

There are many in Colquitt County who remember the Coopers.

Wife Kimberly went to Carrollton and taught math, was honored as the Teacher of the Year and is now an assistant principal at an elementary school there.

Daughter Sara is now 14 and is a competitive cheerleader. Cindy Jo, 11, the Coopers’ other daughter, is a swimmer.

All three will remain in Carrollton until school lets out.

Cooper’s parents still live in Albany and Kimberly’s family is in Sylvester.

That helped make the decision easier.

“And if COVID taught us anything, it taught us about relationships,” Cooper said.

Cooper said it was gratifying when players who were in the middle school when he was last here remember him and have given him a hug when they meet him again.

The Packers offense is similar to the one run by Carrollton and Cooper said he is learning it better each day, just as his young receivers are.

One important attribute Cooper brought back to Moultrie with him is his spirited and animated style on the practice field and on the sideline.

And that is just what Rogers expects.

“Coach Rogers said, ‘If you come, you better bring all that energy,’” Cooper said.

He has.