Outer East league: Officer sacks coach Doug Koop

Doug Koop says he’s unsure if we will coach again after being axed by Officer in the Outer East league.

Doug Koop’s six-year reign as coach of Officer ended last week. Picture: BH Photography

Doug Koop’s coaching career, spanning more than 30 years, has been full of ups and downs.

The latest twist has left him disappointed.

Koop’s six-year reign as coach of Officer ended last week when the club’s committee voted to make a change mid-season.

Koop was sacked, with player Anthony Bernardo and assistant coach Troy Tharle installed as co-coaches for the remainder of the 2022 season.

“They (Officer) effectively ended my coaching last week,’’ Koop said.

“I’m still not quite sure why.’’

Officer was promoted to the top division in Outer East this season and is yet to win a game after four rounds.

Koop said the club lost a raft of key players leading into this season.

“We lost a s...load of players after we were promoted,’’ he said.

“The last 22 I picked in 2021 I lost 16 of those blokes, for varying reasons.’’

Officer coach Doug Koop.

Koop said while he was disappointed, he said he felt more sorry for the Officer players.

“I’ve always been a players coach and we’ve done really hard yards over the past three or four years,’’ he said.

“In 2020 I reckon we did easily 50 training sessions waiting to play…and we couldn’t play because of Covid.

“In 2021 we knocked over Monbulk and we were confident we had Mt Evelyn’s measure so we were confident if we got to finals we were a big chance of winning a flag but Covid kicked that in the arse.

“And then whoever let those teams go, it just decimated our footy club, absolutely decimated our footy club.

“The summer was spent trying to get blokes to training…we thought we could get a good crew together to be competitive but as it’s turning out we are short of the mark.

“I thought we were half reasonable but four games in we’re miles off the pace. You can’t lose that many players.

“So I’m really disappointed and I didn’t walk way. I wasn’t going to walk away.’’

Koop, 61, a former AFL player with South Melbourne, North Melbourne and Melbourne, said he was unsure of his footy future and if he would coach again.

“I think I’ve had a really good run,’’ he said.

“I started at Beaconsfield in 1990.

“I’ve got a lot of really good people that I’ve met during footy who are really good mates.

I haven’t got any plans. Right here and now if you asked me if I’d coach again I’d probably say no.

“I might take the Alastair Clarkson approach, if someone came to me and said, ‘look we’ve got a team, it just needs a bit of leadership’…I’ve always been a basics coach, if you get the basics right the rest can look after itself.’’