10/06/2026
Today is National Coaches Day & I wanted to share a lesson I wrote 3 years ago about a rival coach:
Today is opening day for HS football in New Mexico. This is also the first opening day in almost 40 yrs that the man in this picture isn't involved with it in some capacity. He retired this summer.
This is Cooper Henderson.
Honestly, I can't remember a time that didn't know his name. He coached Ruidoso when Lovington went 13-0 with the 1986 team, & then in the late 80s he left to coach the Bulldogs. It seemed that every time we went to the State Championship, his face was looking at us from the other side.
So, why am I writing about him today? Because I don't know if I ever had a competitive "foe" I respected more than Coach Henderson. He and I never sat down and had a long conversation, but throughout high school he knew my first name and not just my last (In the 80s and 90s I think most of Chaves, Eddy, and Lea Counties knew that). No, Cooper Henderson would call me by my first name. For an opposing coach to do that, it was a big deal, especially from a coach with his football IQ. Heck, I always knew when we were playing Artesia, we had to beat Cooper Henderson, not his players.
My Junior year I made a good play right at the Artesia sidelines and when I got up Coach Henderson complimented my tackle. That was shocking and thrilling at the same time. After a gut-wrenching loss to Artesia my senior year, he went out of his way to find me and tell me that I was a heck of a ball player and the meanest of my brothers that he coached against. He didn't have to think of me at all because I wasn't one of his boys, but he did. He loved the game and you felt that.
What's the point of all this, right? Here it is...I had some amazing coaches who taught me life lessons that still influence me today (Rodie and Faith), and I love those men! But I also had a coach who taught me from afar that even if I wasn't his player, he still knew me and that it was about love for the game. So, for those who coach and are starting this season, remember that it isn't just your players who are watching you. Your rivals are watching and learning from you too! So, be a Cooper Henderson.