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Champion’s Cope steps down as baseball coach
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Champion High baseball coach Tim Cope has resigned to spend more time with his family.
By TIM CLEVELAND
CHAMPION
While Tim Cope has had much success in his 16 seasons as a varsity baseball coach, he has decided to take a step back and spend more time in the lives of his two young sons.
“It’s time for me to spend time with my two sons, Preston and Collin,” Cope said. “Both are involved in various activities. It was time to be a dad.
“I want to be a dad and support my kids in their activities. I coach my youngest son [Collin, 7] in peewee baseball for the Champion Athletic Club. I also support the oldest one [Preston, 12], who performs at the Studio L Dance Center.”
Cope will maintain his duties as the Champion athletic director.
Cope spent six seasons as the coach at Southington and the last 10 at Champion. In that time, he led his teams to five district championships, two district runner-up finishes, three regional titles and eight league championships.
He also has three state final appearances, including 1998 with Southington, for which he and the rest of the team were inducted into the Chalker High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Mike Guarnieri, who has coached Niles for the past six seasons, said Cope coached Champion the right way.
“[He’s] first class,” Guarnieri said. “He’s a first-class individual who runs a first-class program.
“You can see it in his players how they’ve taken on his personality and how to conduct yourself on and off the field. When you do it as long as I have you get pieces from other programs; how to conduct yourself as a professional is one thing I’ve taken from him.”
Cope’s final season didn’t end the way he and the Golden Flashes would have liked. They finished 6-14 with a 1-0 loss to Cardinal in a Division III sectional semifinal. His overall record was 242-118.
Cope had many outstanding games to choose from in selecting the best he’s been involved in. He was able to narrow it down to two when asked.
“The 2009 regional semifinal game against Trinity,” he said. “It was a game where our kids played error free baseball. We beat Trinity but lost to Garfield in a regional final.
“It was a great game to watch and be a part of.
“The 1998 regional final at Southington against Fostoria St. Wendelin we won 7-4 to go to state. It was my first time making it to state.”