Internationally diverse career brings new Warriors coach to Utah with high expectations

HERRIMAN — If Utah is too small of a market with someone who holds the internationally diverse resume as new Utah Warriors coach Greg Cooper, he didn't pay it much attention when he was introduced to the media Wednesday afternoon.

A native of New Zealand, the former All-Blacks international has coached and played for his home country, in France and Europe, and visited everywhere from the South Pacific to the United States before his most recept stop in Japan.

So why come to the United States, where professional rugby is still in its infancy even as the sport prepares to host the Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the Women's World Cup two years later?

For the new coach, who calls himself "Coops," the answer is the culture. And that American culture of rugby has a heartbeat on the Wasatch Front.

"I've lived in many countries around the world," Cooper told KSL.com. "And America is a great place; it's an opportunity to experience a different lifestyle — and I'm employed to do a job I love doing. I love coaching rugby. But I'm also a bad tourist. I like to go places, to really live in places; I lived in Paris for years, and I never got to Notre Dame. But I loved the culture, loved the lifestyle, and I'm enjoying the fact that I can live the lifestyle.

"I've met some really impressive people, and I love this organization that is going places while living in a beautiful state."

Cooper, 57, was installed as the next head coach of the Warriors, Utah's fifth-year franchise in Major League Rugby, on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after flying to the Beehive State and getting situated in perhaps one of the few locales where he's lived or played during a nearly 40-year career in rugby union.

The fourth coach in the history of the Warriors, who will open their sixth season next spring, succeeds Shawn Pittman, the U.S. international and former Major League Rugby coach of the year who was fired in the middle of last season.

Utah rebounded to finish 5-11 in 2022, a disappointing year that finished without a playoff berth but with the second-most wins in franchise history. Obviously, being one of the founding members of a league that has grown from seven members to its current 13 spread across two conferences, from the Pacific coast to Toronto, Ontario.

Make no mistake, though, Cooper didn't take the Utah job to spin nice platitudes about a young organization in a press release. He has high expectations for a club he admits has "a lot of work in front of us."

"You can talk about championships; that is the goal of every team," he said. "But the important thing for me is the playoffs. Every year, you should expect to be in the playoffs. That is the expectation I'll put on myself, and that is the expectation I'll put on the players. Our goal every year will be to make the playoffs."

There's also a charm to that mantra from a community that embraced rugby long before MLR launched in 2017. From BYU to Utah collegiately to the Highland rugby club to numerous grassroots tournaments and championships, Utah — and its burgeoning Pacific Islander community — has a lengthy history with rugby union.

Cooper knew that, too, and wants to tap into it, said longtime Warriors assistant coach Shaun Davies.

"He did his homework," said Davies, a former All-American scrumhalf at BYU. "He looked into the rugby here, the Utah rugby history, with BYU, the Utes, and the Utah club rugby scene.

"We have more Joe Manos around here that we need to find, the diamonds in the rough, because — and I'll be the first person to say this — Joe Mano will be the player of the year next year.

Wednesday was the first day Cooper met the media, several staff members and even a few players as he formally started the next job. But in some ways, it was like he was reuniting with a long, lost friend, as he shook hands and slapped palms with players like Warriors flanker Lance Williams and forward Paul Mullen.

He also doesn't want to change those players or the way they play. Cooper readily admits what he knows — and what he doesn't, more importantly — and envisions a style of play that fits Utah's current model, with quick-striking wings and a forward pack that tries to stay physical and aggressive from the first minute to the final whistle.

In other words, Greg Cooper's style of play is similar to the Warriors' style of play — despite changes in head coaches and slight modifications to the personnel over the previous five years.

"I knew Lance before I even met him," Cooper said. "I knew his game, I knew how he plays; I've just analyzed him. I know the players from seeing them, and I've spoken to (assistant coaches Shaun Davies and Robbie Abel) about them. I'm really excited about the roster.

"I'm really excited about what we've got."

Ditto for the Warriors, who found the right coach early in their search and simply confirmed it while Brandon Sparks shifted from a general manager role to director of rugby and head coach through the interim portion of last season.

"From our first conversation, I knew Greg was our guy," said Warriors CEO Kimball Kjar, the former BYU rugby coach and Rugby Utah executive. "He knew about Utah, in some cases, than I expected. He knew more about some of our players than I did, to be quite honest.

"To have a coach of Greg's caliber to join the Warriors and to join MLR is a watershed day for this organization and for this league … It's not short thing to say we now have the most experienced coach in the MLR in Greg Cooper."

Cooper played for the All-Blacks from 1986-92 in addition to a career through 1990 with Brescia. Following his playing career, the Gisborne, New Zealand native began his coaching career as an assistant coach with Otago Razorbacks in his home country before accepting his first full-time head coaching position with Highlanders from 2004-07.

Following a stint with the New Zealand U-21 squad, Cooper coached NEC, Stade Francais and most recently Mitsubishi Dynaboars in the Japanese Rugby League One, where he's been since 2018 prior to arriving in Utah.

And the Beehive State isn't as new and unique to him as one might think.

"I'm from the coastal area of the south island, but I spent a lot of time inland, in a mountainous region; I love to ski, and the lakes. This is a grander scale, but it's a little bit like that," Cooper said. "I flew in, and it didn't disappoint. I love the vastness of the valley. It really is beautiful."

The next step, in addition to retooling the Warriors for 2023? Finding a go-to restaurant to serve up his country's famous meat pies.

"I used to be a massive meat pie fan," Cooper admits. "But I was back in New Zealand recently, and my son recently said to me showed me the best meat pie place I've ever had.

"But I'll keep looking."

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