Longtime Atascadero football coach who led program to state title is stepping down
A name virtually synonymous with Atascadero high school football is stepping away from the game after being involved with coaching at the North County school since 1987.
Vic Cooper — who led the Greyhounds to their first state championship in 2022 and an undefeated regular season in 2023 — has announced that he won’t be coaching the team next season after nearly four decades of coaching at the school as a varsity and junior varsity coach. Cooper took over as the varsity head coach in 2004.
Former 1990s Atascadero football star Dan Loney will be taking over Atascadero High head coaching duties next year. Loney previously served as Templeton High’s head football coach and as an assistant at Paso Robles and Atascadero, after a playing career at Cal Poly and in the professional ranks in the Arena Football League,
Cooper told The Tribune that he’d planned to take some time away from the game after Jackson Cooper, a standout lineman and the youngest of his four sons, finished his high school career, which Jackson did this year. Vic Cooper said he won’t coach in any capacity next year but is open to returning as an assistant coach at Atascadero in future years.
“I’m going to take one full year off from coaching football and then see how it goes,” Cooper said. “I don’t see myself being away for too long.”
Each of Cooper’s other sons — Logan, Alex and Everett — played at Atascadero and later were involved with coaching in the program in some way.
“It’s definitely a family affair,” Cooper said. “It’s kind of what we are.”
Decision to step away
Cooper said that the grind of summer practices and the significant time commitment to head coaching duties in general led him to his decision. He was ready for a break and some vacation time.
“My family and I have a few things planned, but mostly I’m not going to have to be at the weight room at 7 a.m. every morning during the summer, and in the fall if I want to take a weekend off and go watch a college football game somewhere, then I can do that,” Cooper said. “I’ve got a nephew that’s going to Auburn University (in Alabama) right now. So, I’m planning on going to see a game out there.”
Cooper has a long family legacy at Atascadero. His mother, father and grandmother all attended Atascadero High.
Cooper played in the Greyhounds program, graduating in 1986, before serving as a JV football coach in 1987 and coaching every year since in some capacity.
“That was my joy. The best part of my day was heading to practice,” Cooper said. “I’ll miss that for a little bit, but I probably won’t be gone for too long.”
Atascadero Legacy
Cooper reminisced about his years with the program, including the powerhouse teams of the 1990s when he served as an assistant varsity coach. Atascadero won CIF-Southern Section championships between 1993 and 1996.
“During that stretch, our teams were pretty darn good,” Cooper said. Loney served as the team’s center, graduating in 1996, and has been inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
“Danny has plenty of experience and the last three, four years it’s been his offense (as an Atascadero assistant coach), and I just kind of facilitated,” Cooper said. “I kind of just became his offensive line coach. He kind of shook up our offense a little bit.”
Cooper acknowledged Atascadero’s football culture has long thrived on its power run game, mixing in enough passing to keep defenses honest.
But in recent years, with the evolution of the college and NFL offenses shifting to a more pass-heavy, option style offense, Atascadero’s approach more closely resembled the type of attack of the higher levels.
Led by Tribune County Player of the Year quarterback Kane Cooks and a strong core of receivers in Mason Degnan, Tyler Bukamier and Jarom Damery, along with fearsome line, the Greyhounds had plenty of options in Cooper’s final year as head coach, helping the team to a 10-1 overall record.
“That kind of modern offense is right now. Everything’s got an option off of it,” Cooper said. “So that’s kind of what made us dynamic this year for sure.”
Cooper said that the “city of Atascadero has been great to me and the high school has been great to me.”
He said whether his teams showed success in the win column or not, his approach was similar.
“When you’re done with the season, the kids and coaches make a difference,” Cooper said. “And I don’t think I’ve ever felt any different about any of those teams, as far as the relationships I’ve had, and the things that they gave to me and hopefully that I gave to them.”
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