As UCF gears up to kick off spring football camp next week, the Knights are becoming quite the team of Coopers.
Coach Scott Frost hired Cooper Bassett as the new tight ends coach and also added Cooper Terpstra, a transfer offensive lineman from Michigan State. They’ll be joining Steve Cooper, who is back as UCF’s offensive coordinator.
“We’ve already got it worked out for the most part,” Frost said with a laugh when asked about ways of differentiating each one.
Bassett was one of several new coaches to join the staff this offseason after spending last season coaching tight ends at his alma mater, Oklahoma State. He takes over coaching the tight ends from Cooper.
“It improves us in two ways: Coach Cooper was trying to coach tight ends and put the offense together alongside me. At times, I thought our tight end technique suffered because he was away. Other times, I think there was a lot on his plate,” said Frost. “I hope that it’s going to allow me to spend more time with coach Cooper and make sure we’re in the right stuff every week.”
Bassett, 35, played four seasons with the Cowboys from 2009 through 2012 before moving into coaching with stops at Sam Houston State, Southeast Missouri, West Texas A&M and OSU.
“Cooper Bassett has done a really good job working hand in hand with [new offensive line coach] AJ [Blazek] to make sure our tight ends and offensive line are on the same page and use the same techniques, particularly in the run game,” added Frost.
Blazek takes over for Shawn Clark, who passed away unexpectedly last September. The former Iowa Hawkeyes center coached at Rutgers, Iowa, North Dakota State, and, most recently, Wisconsin.
“AJ was a pretty easy choice,” Frost said of the hire. “I played against the University of Iowa and coached against the University of Iowa enough to know how good a job they do with their offensive line. I love how they teach it, and it’s a little different. So, I wanted somebody from that tree.”
Frost hired Will Johnson to be the Knights’ new defensive backs coach following the departure of Brandon Harris in the offseason. However, Johnson’s time with the program was short-lived as he left to join the Minnesota Vikings’ coaching staff last month.
“The good thing about that is [defensive coordinator] coach [Alex] Grinch handles the safeties, so we’ve just got to find a corners coach,” said Frost. “Realistically, we’ve already got our defensive install mostly done going into spring ball, so I wanted to take my time a little bit and make sure we get the right guy, particularly with kind of a veteran group of corners that we have.
“We want to find somebody who can add to it just a little bit. So we’re taking our time, but I’m sure we’ll get that position filled soon.”
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