File photo by Samuel Chacko
The Vikings have their guy–and they didn’t have to look far to find him. Last year’s interim coach, Marques Cooper, has been hired full-time as Long Beach City College’s head football coach going forward. Cooper took a Vikings squad with very low expectations and went 3-7, with several competitive games against teams ranked far above them.
Cooper took over as interim head coach last year after the school parted ways with longtime coach Brett Peabody.
“I’m excited,” said Cooper. “Things went fast–(two seasons ago) I was there as a defensive coordinator not expecting anything like this to happen. I’m excited because I love the guys–I’m transitioning from a whole other career, so you know I’m all the way in.”
Cooper has been doing the “Raul Lara,” working full time as a juvenile probation officer while also working full time on the other side of the 24-hour day as a football coach. That was a path Lara took while winning five Division 1 CIF-SS championships at Poly before ultimately becoming Mater Dei’s head coach. Cooper said he’s leaving his old career to focus on coaching full-time with the Vikings.
“When you’re leaving something like that to take on a new job you know you’re really passionate about it,” he said.
Cooper is an Inglewood native who also spent time in North Long Beach growing up. He went to Westchester High where he discovered he was a little too short for the Comets’ vaunted basketball team, and tried football instead. He ended up in a serious car accident that changed his life.
“I was hit by a drunk driver, that really changed everything,” he said. “That made me experience life and not take anything for granted.”
He ended up playing at Saddleback College and then Azusa Pacific, where his head coach encouraged him to get his Master’s degree and jumping into coaching as a career. Along the way he coached at University High, West LA College, Santa Monica College, and was part of a resurgence at El Camino College.
“Our first year we won four games, second year we won a bowl game, third year we were in the state playoffs, so I got to see what it was like to build,” he said. From there he went back to Azusa Pacific where he was the pass game coordinator until the school cut the program. After becoming a probation officer, he looked at his family and then at the itinerant lifestyle usually required to pursue an NCAA Division 1 coaching career and decided to stay local, even if that meant he was done.
“That’s when Brett Peabody reached out to me about City,” he said. “I saw the program he had built and wanted to be a part of that.”
Cooper said that he was excited to step into the interim role last season and over the course of the year grew into really wanting to be the coach going forward.
“It was just being there, loving the kids, knowing that they needed somebody,” he said. “Seeing the kids who stuck with us–kids like Devin Samples, who’s from Long Beach Poly and didn’t want to leave his community. For the kids who were there every day in the weight room. Most kids in this climate would transfer, and we had kids who didn’t. Seeing kids who could go play plenty of places but who stayed, that fueled me.”
Cooper’s Vikings were a young team with a bright future this year, who exceeded expectations while showing promise for the upcoming season.
“I had the idea that if we could get through this year we’d have a pretty good team the following year,” he said. “We could turn the corner.”
Cooper had an uphill battle to get the job, as there were plenty of names attached to it. LBCC administration was impressed with the way he showed up and mentored and guided his team this season.
“I know I was the underdog,” he said. “I just work. I’ve been a lot of places and won a lot of games. I have a good circle of coaches I turn to. Spencer Danielson at Boise State, he’s been through the process, I leaned on him. I was just myself–that’s the only person I can be.”
Cooper said he plans to build the future of the LBCC program with Long Beach kids. He received rave reviews from local high school coaches for his presence on campus and at games.
“My philosophy around recruiting is relationship-based,” he said. “My philosophy is build a fence around Long Beach. We’e been losing a lot of our kids to other places. Long Beach is a great community and we want that fence. We do that through relationships and letting people see us. We’re about the kids.”
One immediate challenge for the Vikings under Cooper will be finding a place to play, with Veterans Memorial Stadium slated to be demolished shortly before the season. The team will practice on the school’s soccer field, and is evaluating options for a temporary home for games while the stadium is being rebuilt.
