LAKEWOOD — JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A father and son are coaching side by side at Lakewood High School — and together, with their team, they're winning games; something that hasn't been the case for LHS Football for years.
Cooper Loyd is the head football coach. His father, Matt Loyd, is his assistant. After taking over a struggling program, the pair has guided Lakewood to a 3-3 record this season.
"This is the greatest person in the world. I love him more than anything," Cooper said about his dad.
Their bond stretches well beyond the football field. Both men served in the U.S. Army, and Cooper once played high school football under his father's coaching.
"Getting to be a high school, you know, player and play under him was so much fun," Cooper said.
For Matt, a football sideline has always been home. He was raised by a single mom and never met his father. A high school football coach filled that role — and inspired him to spend 36 years doing the same for others.
"The high school football coach was a father figure for me, and I just said, 'I want to do that. I want to go do that for kids,' and that's what I did," Matt said.
Matt said his love for coaching is something Cooper can clearly see, and now he's emulating it.
It took three years of applying, but Cooper finally landed a head coaching job himself, at Lakewood High School.
"I was just like, 'Oh my goodness! Like, yes,'" Cooper said, as he recalled getting the offer.
He said "yes" to them and "yes" to his dad, when Matt called him up and offered to step away from head coaching to be his assistant.
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Both coaches arrived with a clear message for the program.
"We just came with a things are going to be different and we're going to show you how," Cooper said.
Matt said stepping in during Cooper's first season was a straightforward decision. He knew how challenging a first year can be.
"Regardless of how many years of experience you have, the first year is the toughest year. So I'm just like, hey, eventually I was going to go help my son anyway, so I might as well do it now. So that's why I'm here," Matt said.
The team has now one three games. Cooper described their first wind as both strange and exhilarating.
"It was really weird, but it was awesome," Cooper said. "We played really well, but we had so much stuff that we had to work on too," Cooper said.
Matt, who brings decades of winning experience to the sideline, kept his perspective measured.
"For me, it was just another football game, another win," Matt said.
Cooper noted his father is simply used to winning.
"He is," Cooper said.
For Matt, though, the game has always been about more than wins and losses.
"I'm teaching the game of life through football," Matt said.
And for Cooper, having his father on the sideline carries a meaning no scoreboard can measure.
"I get to coach with my hero," Cooper said.
Beyond the season, the Loyds also host an annual Senior Showcase game — giving under recruited players an opportunity to train and compete in front of college coaches. Scouting for that game is already underway.
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