Ernie Cooper is no different than most coaches. He takes losses hard and morphs into various forms of grouch and grump.
Cooper is in constant motion during Granite Bay High School football games, pouring every bit of energy and emotion into every Grizzlies possession.
After the Grizzlies (12-2) lost to rival Del Oro 28-24 for the Sierra Foothill League championship in October, a setback he described as "gut-wrenching," Cooper challenged his team to regroup and respond.
It did, capping the season with a six-game winning streak, including spirited Division I playoff conquests of Sac-Joaquin Section top seeds in No. 1 Lincoln of Stockton (28-21) and No. 2 Pleasant Grove (30-24).
Cooper's resolve and results make him The Bee's 2011 Coach of the Year. He has four section titles, three in D-II and now one in D-I. The grouch is now one giddy boss.
"That Del Oro loss really hurt, crushed us, and it took us several days to get over it," Cooper said. "What a great group we had."
Granite Bay was led by quarterback Brendan Keeney, lineman Gavin Andrews and defensive end Spencer Briare, seniors on The Bee's All-Metro first team, and second-team performers in halfback Arik Bird and defensive back Alec Naki.
So appreciative is Cooper of his players, he was sure to hug each of them following the section final victory over Pleasant Grove.
He also attended Sunday's Raiders game in Oakland to support and congratulate Naki and Del Oro's Logan Lamb, who were presented with Fred Biletnikoff Foundation scholarships.
– Joe Davidson
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.