A coach seeing their player sign a scholarship is a huge accomplishment to witness, but being a parent who had a chance to coach your son in his final year of high school is more rewarding.
That was the case for Jarrod Magan- head coach for Munford soccer- who joined his son, Cooper, as he signed to play for Freed-Hardemen University last Friday.
“Proud is just kind of an understatement.” The first-year coach said.
The blessing to coach his son occurred before the season started when the former coach, Stanislav Jamscek, took another job and the administration was in need of a replacement. With over 20 years of coaching experience, Jarrod was the right fit for the job.
“It’s kind of a natural progression to step into that,” Jarrod Magan mentioned. “They asked and, of course, I was thrilled to able to take on and coach the team.”
From a coach’s perspective, Jarrod Magan spoke on Cooper’s defensive ability and speed that is a huge asset to the team.
“He’s good at protecting the ball,” Jarrod Magan He’s good at going forward. Got great speed. Great touch. So, he’s someone you can rely on in the midfield to not turn it over and tip it into the field.”
From the eyes of a father, he was filled with joy and enjoyed getting to be in the position he was in for Copper’s senior year.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Jarrod Magan. “I know over the course of this month or so is going to be a lot of emotions because he’s our oldest and first to move off and graduate and move on to college.”
In recruitment, finding the school that would best fit his needs was the main priority. Also, they had to find a school where he can get lots of playing time in his first year.
“We started looking at schools based on needs,” Jarrod mentioned about recruiting. “So, you can kind of see their classes and how many are graduating, and what positions are there.”
Now heading to Henderson, Tennessee in the fall, Cooper Magan was excited about enrolling.
“So, when I went there, it completely changed my perspective about not only soccer life out there, but the students really connected me well with the environment and everything else there.” Cooper said.
“We all have the same goal, basically, because we all want to play the same sport that we love.” He added.
Author: David Perry
Writer
