IMA SPORTS

It’s funny how life works out sometimes. When he was 6 years old, Matt Koop got his start on the soccer fields playing for Maumee Youth Soccer.

Now after a coaching career that has taken him to various high school programs across the Toledo area over nearly 30 years, Koop comes to Maumee as the head coach for the girls varsity soccer program.

“My son played for Maumee Express, and we live just on the other side of Heatherdowns, so I’ve been pretty tight with the Maumee community,” Koop said. “This was my opportunity to be the head coach of a program that I kind of felt like I’ve been a part of from a distance.”

In addition to his high school coaching, Koop has also been coaching in the Express program since 2015.

This will be his first head coaching job. He has served as an assistant coach and head junior varsity coach at St. John’s, St. Francis and, most recently, Notre Dame Academy.

He called Maumee the destination of many stepping stones along the way. He’s excited for the opportunity to take over his own varsity program, and he feels well prepared thanks to the influence of the coaches he’s been around.

“I feel prepared just because I’ve been really fortunate to have worked with some really strong coaches, like John Orozco, who was kind of my mentor from St. Francis. He was the president of the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Association and taught me quite a bit. 

“I’ve been able to kind of sit back and watch how they’ve run a program from top to bottom and just kind of taken my own notes along the way of like, what are the things I like? What are the things I wanna emulate? What are the things I wanna do differently? And so I think I’ve kind of had that conversation in my head happening for many years, and this is just my opportunity to kind of put it all together and see if I can put together a solid program.”

Koop is taking over for Jeremiah McNutt, who resigned after last season. The Panthers won back-to-back district titles in 2022 and 2023, along with a Northern Buckeye Conference title in ‘23 as well.

Koop gave credit to Maumee boys coach Chad Kain, who stepped in after McNutt resigned to train the girls program and keep the momentum rolling.

He also pointed to returning players, such as Lauren Liwo for making sure the program stayed in good shape. During a weight room visit this winter, he asked Liwo for a list of girls and phone numbers. She immediately handed him the completed list.

“She was right on top of it,” Koop said. “The other players are right on board, so those are the little things that have kind of made a difference to me.”

Thanks to his experience coaching Express teams, Koop is reunited with some former players, such as Teagan Kennedy, Jaycee Blue, Gabby BIschoff and Addi Stamm.

So far, Koop has been “nothing but encouraged” by the offseason buy-in from the players. When he was hired, they had 14 returning players, including incoming freshmen. At their first workout last week, there were 18 players present, with another four out of town.

“At the very beginning of me coming on board, we were talking about, Are we going to be able to field a good team and enough players, and now the conversations turned to, Can we get a few more players to field a JV team this season? That’s a credit to these girls going out there and talking to their friends and maybe some of the other players who played in the past and are interested in coming back,” Koop said. “Just sitting back and watching it has been a blast. “

Koop said his first priority is building the culture, something he’s experienced at his other coaching stops. When he sat down with players for one-on-one interviews in the winter, he asked what’s important to them — their answers were seldom about winning and more about the experience and culture.

“That’s really what we’re going try and focus on, just making sure that it’s positive and supportive,” Koop said. “It’s fun, and at the end of the day they can look back and say they were glad that they were a part of it.

“My philosophy and what I’ve learned from the past is that winning should come as a byproduct of developing that strong culture.”

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com