Cougar Athletics
30 NAIA National Championships
95 GSAC Championships
...and counting

Jack Coppes is in his second stint on the Cougar coaching staff and is in his eleventh straight season with Azusa Pacific. Coppes, who oversees the Cougar kickers, first served a season on the Cougar staff in 1993 with Azusa Pacific Hall of Fame coach Jim Milhon. He returned in 1997 to work on staff with Vic Shealy and stayed on when Peter Shinnick took over in 1999. He and fellow assistant Bo Beatty are the only link between the Cougars’ past 4 coaches – Victor Santa Cruz, Peter Shinnick Vic Shealy and Jim Milhon.

Other than his service with Azusa Pacific, Coppes’ entire 26-year coaching career has been on the high school level, coaching at Whittier High, Nogales High, Diamond Bar High, Don Lugo High, Chino High and Alhambra High, where he began his coaching career in 1971.

He prepped at Whittier High where he was a 4-year letterman and a member of the 1964 CIF 4A title team. He was recently inducted into the Whittier High Hall of Fame. He played 2 years at Rio Hondo College and another season at Whittier College from which he graduated in 1973.

Coppes, who lives in Rowland Heights with his wife Linda, is in his 22nd year teaching at Whittier High. He has been the Cardinals’ head wrestling coach for 17 years and has served the past 6 seasons as the boy’s golf coach as well.

His oldest son, Paul was an All-American catcher on the Cougar baseball team during the mid-1990s. A younger son, Chris, played football for Whittier College during its 1996 conference championship season.