Brett Cooper, hired in July as Bloomington High School North’s new head football coach, steps into the role just a month before the season starts—North’s second coaching change in two years. Cooper is working to build relationships with his team as he prepares not only for the football season, but also for his roles as business teacher and assistant athletic director.

Former head coach, business teacher, and assistant athletic director Anthony Lindsey resigned from MCCSC in May.

Cooper comes from his position as head football coach at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis. He began coaching that team during the summer of 2020, amid the pandemic. He told The North Star that he knew that Perry’s football program was needing a lot of help, which he believed he could provide. His last season was 5-6. “We lost six games by less than a score,” he said.

This time at Bloomington North, he again takes over a program a little more than a month before football season begins. He said an important part of his transitional work is connecting with players and their families. “We’re going to try to carve out as much time as possible in the next several weeks to get to know everybody as fast as possible,” he said earlier this month. He values one-on-one conversations for building trust and rapport with the team.

In terms of on-field strategy, Cooper has ideas he’s bringing to North. Defense, for example, will have a significantly different structure than it has had previously. He said, “We’re always going to drive our decisions off of what our kids can do.” He said he’s going to rely on his coaching staff, who are already familiar with the players, to identify the team’s strengths and shape the game plan around them. “Not,” he said, mimicking a rigid mindset, “‘This is what Brett Cooper does, and this is the only way to do that.’ That’s ridiculous.” He added that the ideas he has have similarities to what the team is already familiar with.

Also new to the team is senior quarterback John Bargen, who is a transfer student coming from Dunlap, Illinois. “He’s a coach’s kid. He’s intelligent, he understands, he can pick things up,” Cooper said. “But that’s to be expected in that position.”

Beyond the scoreboard, Cooper wants to foster a productive team culture. “My goal, and it’s going to be tough right now, is to have a group of … somewhere between 70 and 120 guys that can use the word ‘family’ appropriately. Not just use it as a term that sounds cool, but like they genuinely care about each other. We always say our goal is to be the tightest group in the school.”

While he hasn’t been in a classroom setting in the past 10 years, Cooper is looking forward to teaching business at North. He was a weight room assistant at Perry Meridian and at Indian Creek, and before that, in Ohio, he had what he called a “real chintzy job” that involved supervising students taking health courses online. He said he feels a little anxious about the job, but he enjoys the subject.

He said, “There is a business side to football.” He mentioned fundraising, management, and budgeting. “I love the financial aspect, and networking and business in general.” He said that many of his family members have careers in business and finance. “I’ve got people to lean on,” he said.

“Teaching is about building relationships with kids,” he continued. “And once they buy into you, they’ll listen to the content. But if they don’t care about you as a teacher, they’re not going to listen to the content. … If you’re a good coach, you’re a good teacher.”

Cooper is confident that bringing energy to North’s communities, from the classroom to the football field, is infectious, and will inspire people to show up to support the school.