Hiring a coach at a military school is a unique challenge. The best fit usually understands the culture of the school, the uniqueness of the student lifestyle and the demands that those two things create.
Fork Union Military Academy didn’t have to look far to find their next coach after the recent resignation of Brian Hurlocker. Mike Hooper was already on campus where’s been since 1988, serving as a Spanish teacher and the head coach of the junior prep squad.
Now Hooper will take over a program that has produced a lot of top notch talent, including current Cincinnati Bengals center Russell Bodine and one of current NFL draft’s most highly regarded quarterback prospects, Christian Hackenberg.
FUMA announced Hooper’s move via a press release Monday. He went 5-3 last year as the junior prep head coach and has been a coach in football, baseball and several other sports since arriving in Fork Union in the late 1980s following a stint at his alma mater Isle of Wight Academy.
“We are pleased to have Coach Hooper rise to take the reins of our prep football team at this time, because he is not only a proven winner, but because he knows how to motivate cadets to excel and knows how to mentor them by his own example and conduct,” said FUMA President RADM J. Scott Burhoe in the release.
Hooper takes over a team that went 7-22 under Hurlocker the last three seasons after going 10-3 in 2012 en route to a state championship game appearance in longtime coach Micky Sullivan’s final season. Hurlocker was an assistant under Sullivan prior to taking the top job. Last fall the Blue Devils went 4-6, winning more games than they did the previous two years combined.
