PREP PRESEASON: All eyes on 'new' Baker leading Hooper Academy
Dusty Baker replaces his brother Marty to lead Hooper Academy in 2025. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
New coach but same name for the Hooper Academy Colts this fall.
Dusty Baker, an assistant for the past three years, is Hooper Academy’s new head coach, replacing his brother Marty, who will remain on the staff as an assistant.
Baker hopes the infusion of youthful energy will translate to the players as Hooper aims for its first playoff win (and region championship) since 1997.
“I believe it’s going to be different because we do have a new coach,” said quarterback Hunter Bowman. “He pushes us to be the best we can. He doesn’t let us slack and if he sees us slack, he makes us pay for it. I believe the offense changing a lot will help us because now it’s built for our size. We’re not bigger than a lot of people but we have more speed and that’s what we’re adjusting it to.
“My goal is just to win the next game. If we keep doing that, we’ll make the playoffs and win a playoff game.”
In the 27 years since the last playoff win, the Colts have had just four winning seasons under 11 different head coaches.
“I think we’ll do good,” said receiver-cornerback Jeremy Griggs, who missed all of last year with an injury. “We need to make it to the playoffs and win a playoff game to put some respect on our name and get it back to the old Hooper standard. We’re just looking to win every game that we can.”
One thing that should help the Colts this year is a new region that includes new coaches at each of the six schools in Class AA Region 1. Hope Christian is fielding a team for the first time this year and Lakeside is moving up after playing 8-man football last year.
“The thing we’ve got to avoid is the injury bug,” Baker said. “That got us bad last year. We were very competitive in the first four or five games, then we hit a week where we lost three in a week. We finished the season with 16 players. We weren’t competitive in the last three or four games because of that and that’s our fault as coaches. I think this year, with our numbers back up a little bit, we’re going to be in a lot better shape if we can avoid the injuries.”
Every team needs luck in avoiding crucial injuries, but especially when dealing with fragile hopes that have experienced far more suffering than success. The Colts are evenly matched with most of the teams on the first half of the schedule and hope to breathe excitement into the program with Walters, the new offensive coordinator who had previously coached the players at the junior varsity level.
“We’re not changing anything drastically but we’re changing some of the concepts, some of the routes that we’re running and we’re going to do a lot more of the mesh routes,” Baker observed. “Last year, we got to a point where defenses were just teeing off on us and we didn’t do a good job of blocking that, so we’re going to try and keep defenses more honest this year.”
Bowman said he believes the new offense gives him more freedom at directing the offense.
“I feel like Coach Blake trusts me a lot,” he said. “We have a good connection from when he coached our JV. Going back to that, we were pretty successful then.”
Griggs, who spent a lot of his summer catching passes from Bowman, agrees.
“You have to have the timing right and you have to have the routes right for it to work,” Griggs said. “It’s very different than it has been the last two years. We’re running more routes and more complex stuff than we have.”