New Fowlerville football coach Matt Copeland 'bleeds purple'
Matt Copeland felt the time was right to take on the added responsibility of being a head football coach, but he wasn’t exactly shopping around for gigs.
“(Fowlerville) is really the only place I would do it,” said Copeland, who has been named the Gladiators’ new football coach. “I was born and raised here. I’ve been a Gladiator my whole life.”
It doesn’t get any more purple and gold in Fowlerville than the Copeland name, which has produced five generations of graduates from the high school.
Copeland is a 1994 Fowlerville grad who has worked alongside his father and brother during a 22-year coaching career at his alma mater. He has taught in the school district for 23 years and has a daughter who is a senior this year.
“The job opened up kind of at the perfect time,” Copeland said. “My youngest daughter is graduating in June, so I’ll have a little bit more time on my hands. I thought I’d give it a shot. I’ve had the pleasure of working with coach (Jack) Wallace, coach (Bret) Shrader and coach (Jon) Fletcher, so I’m excited to help keep the program moving forward.”
Copeland has coached in the football program in various capacities, most recently as a defensive assistant coach. He is an assistant track and field coach and was the softball coach when Fowlerville reached the regional final for the only time in 2014.
“He’s been in almost everything at some point in some way,” Fowlerville athletic director Brian Osborn said. “I think that’s so important for him and for our kids and other coaches on the staff, because now they know who’s there and know he’s going to support them, whether at a wrestling meet or basketball game in the winter. When he’s not at a track meet, he’ll pop over to softball and baseball kids. He bleeds purple and loves Fowlerville.”
The job opened up when Fletcher resigned in November after six seasons leading the Gladiators. Copeland was one of 15 candidates and four finalists.
“Some people are gonna look at it and think maybe we could have gone outside of the district,” Osborn said. “The big thing in interviews looking at people outside the district is it confirmed we have great coaches here. We were able to interview multiple people on our staff.
“I think it’s important we’re now hitting the ground running. They know him, they have respect for him. It’s going to help us in the long run in terms of getting winter workouts together, trying to get kids to stay involved with multiple sports and compete.”
Copeland will have an advantage in that he’s known the current players as their teacher in middle school and role as an assistant football coach.
“That’s going to be my focus, building relationships,” he said. “X’s and O’s and those things, those are really neat things to do, but it’s getting a chance to know these kids. I’ve been to weddings of former players, some of the girls I coached when I coached softball. I’ve built some great relationships, so I’m looking forward to doing that on the guys’ side.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: New Fowlerville football coach Matt Copeland 'bleeds purple'
