Don't Call Me "Coach" [Paperback]

John E. Kopp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2002

Every schoolteacher in America and a multitude of students, past and present, will want to read my novel. I have transformed the ups, downs and crazy goings-on of my thirty years in a high school classroom into DON'T CALL ME 'COACH', a tongue-in-cheek look at the uneasy marriage of academics and athletics. It is a love story, and it's clean, with Christian characters who pray to God. It is loaded with satire and deals with an issue relevant to today's society, which gives it a definite ring of truth.'COACH' is the story of Bob McGraw, teacher and coach of his school's tiddly-wink team, the latter position given to him as punishment for questioning the importance given to athletics over academics. After fourteen years of losing and being ridiculed, he has had it. To one-up his archrival, the football coach, he turns his back on God and makes a deal with Satan. He begins to win and enjoys it. His girl, Mary, the girls' physical education teacher, is devastated and walks out of Bob's life. He soon realizes that what he has done has cost him his soul, the love of his life and destroyed his philosophy of education. He then seeks a way to defeat Satan and regain his faith and true love. As he encounters problem after problem, Bob comes to the horrible realization that the fate of his immortal soul could rest on the 'winking' ability of a high school student and a tiny plastic disc.I am qualified to make my statement because, as an educator, I have seen the power that athletics can hold over academics and its effects on student and faculty alike. Both programs are essential to education but I feel that academics should possess the upper hand. By treating the subject with humor, I have zeroed in on an evolution that most teachers find frustrating.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John E. Kopp is Missouri born and educated. He was born in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood in 1933. A graduate of Maplewood High School in 1951, he earned his B.S. in Education at Northeast Missouri State Teacher's College in Kirksville and his M. A. T. at Webster College in Webster Groves in 1970. He taught high school English, speech and drama in the St. Louis area for thirty years, retiring in 1990. A veteran, he served in the United States Navy from 1952-1956.John and Dorothy, his wife of fifty years, now reside in Warrenton, Missouri where they are both active in their church and the Wagon Wheel Players, a local community theater group that they founded in 1988. John spends his time reading, writing and acting. He is an avid sports' fan and closely follows his favorite teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, Rams and Blues. His children's stories have appeared in JACK & JILL magazine and he has worked for HALLMARK, FRAN-MAR and PARAMOUNT greeting card companies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (July 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403330441
• ISBN-13: 978-1403330444
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,995,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)