Canyon Springs hires former UNLV, AFL star to lead football program

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Hunkie Cooper was a two-time all Big West Conference selection while playing for UNLV. Cooper was hired Monday as the new football coach at Canyon Springs High.

By Brett Okamoto

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | 8:42 p.m.

Hunkie Cooper

Canyon Springs High School announced assistant coach and former Arena Football League star Hunkie Cooper has been promoted as football head coach for the 2009 season. Prior to arriving at Canyon Springs in 2005, Cooper worked as an assistant coach at Bishop Gorman and in the AFL with the Utah Blaze.

"He is going to do a fantastic job there," said former Pioneers coach Matt Jenkins, who brought Cooper onto his staff during his second year there. "It was a great hire for the school and a great hire for the kids. He is a good man who really cares about those kids in that neighborhood, and those kids care about him."

In addition to improving the team's 1-8 record from last season, Cooper said he'll focus on ditching what he perceives to be a negative reputation of the school around the league.

"I want to change the impression that we're a school full of hoodlums, because we're not," Cooper said. "If I thought it was a school full of bad kids, I wouldn't be coaching them. Discipline issues cost us a few games last year though, and not just discipline on the field. Kids can have all the athletic ability but if they're not showing that same quality as a student, it's all for nothing. I'm going to help teach them that."

Cooper has already put that same philosophy to use in his own life. Raised in a single-parent home after his father passed away early in his childhood, Cooper used his ability on the football field to become a successful student-athlete at UNLV, graduating with a bachelors degree in criminal law and education in 1991.

From there the wide receiver left a lasting impression in the AFL, retiring as the league's all-time leader in all-purpose yards with 20,587 after a 13-year career with the Arizona Rattlers.

As the third head coach in the school's five-year history, Cooper says he hopes this is the start of a long relationship with the program.

"I've known these kids since they started growing up, I've been there everyday," Cooper said. "It's the right fit for everybody. These kids need somebody who's going to be around and give them some stability over time and hopefully I can be the guy to do it."

Although returning players will recognize Cooper from his years as an assistant coach, none will be immune to his program's new discipline standards. The new coach says he's as excited to teach his kids about life as he is football.

"They've got to earn my respect and I'll put them in a position to succeed," Cooper said. "If they're not willing to do the little things that make you a good person, they won't be part of my football team. They know, I'll hug you and jump up and down when you do something right, but when you do something bad I'll be over you. It's tough love."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com.