By Fred Solis
Hutchinson Tribune
HAVEN—When Drew Thalmann and Thomas Cooprider took over coaching Haven High School football several years ago, Thalmann remembers thinking, “If we could get the program to .500 every year, we’d be happy.”
“People might snicker that it’s a low goal, but now we hope to be better than that,” Thalmann said.
“The first 12 years were pretty rough,” Thalmann said. “We won 12 games in 10 years.” But in their first year at the helm the pair guided Haven to a 4-5 record. Then in 2020 they were 8-3 and made the playoffs before losing to Beloit in double overtime.
Now in his 20th year coaching at Haven, Thalmann was an assistant until he and Cooprider, who also had been an assistant, took over seven years ago. As assistants, Cooprider coached defense while Thalmann handled the offense. As head coaches they continue in those roles.
Last year they finished 8-2 and made the playoffs and lost in the second round to Hoisington.
After a 6-2 season in 2025, the Wildcats are playoff-bound again. On Thursday Haven, the No. 5 seed, will host No. 12 Kingman (2-6) in the 2A playoffs. In their six victories this season, Haven has outscored their opponents 232-72.
Even though there were “a lot of the kids that played at that time that were good football players, we were playing Andale and Collegiate and they were really beating us up,” Thalmann recalled of the team’s lean years.
But slowly Thalmann and Cooprider started to turn the ship around.
“Thomas got guys into the weight room and that was a big thing,” Thalmann said. “A couple classes–2019 and 2020–bought into it. The players and commitment to the weight room and belief and expectation that they get better was better than any scheme that we put in.”
About the same time, Haven went from 3A to 2A and started playing schools with similar numbers of people out for football.
“We used to have 15 people on our team to 45 on their sidelines. It [moving to 2A] was kind of the perfect storm for us,” Thalmann said.
And winning compounded itself.
“When you are winning it’s easy to win and when you’re losing it easy to lose. I’ve seen both sides of the coin,” Thalmann said.
Having a good group of upperclassmen helps the program, Thalmann said, “because they’ve experience it and been through it. They know what we expect and can teach it to the underclassmen.”
Thalmann and Cooprider are building a winning tradition from the ground up. After the Haven Middle School team completes its season, Thalmann and Cooprider have them join the high school team in the locker room and on the sidelines for games.
“It’s about building excitement for the program,” Thalmann said. “On Friday, football players go to the grade school to eat breakfast with them. They throw the football around on the playground with them.
“Kids look forward to Haven football–kids throwing the football around behind stands emulating high school players. It’s creating excitement for being a football player at Haven. It’s something we’ve created and I think that helps,” Thalmann said.
Thalmann, who played wide receiver at Kansas State University from 1997-2001, also tapped his network of coaching colleagues for ideas on building a winning football program. One of them was Brandon Clark, a college roommate, who coaches at perennial power Derby, winner of several 6A state championships.
Thalmann and Cooprider got practice and weight room ideas, practice organization and offensive structures from Clark.
“We do it differently because of our numbers, but the terminology, schemes and practices look similar to what Derby does,” Thalmann said.
They also spoke with Cheney’s Shelby Wehrman, who also was at K-State when Thalmann was there. Cheney won the 3A state championship in 2023.
“If I would be mentioned in the same breath as those guys we’d be in pretty good shape,” Thalmann said.
Besides incorporating strategies from other programs, Thalmann and Cooprider make some of their own moves, like reassigning a skill player to the front line.
“They look at us like we’re crazy, but it works out and it makes us all better,” Thalmann said. “We move them so they are more successful, and if they’re more successful, we’re more successful. They trust us.”
“It’s a team effort. Thomas and I split everything 50-50. Kids laugh, they say, ‘You don’t see one without the other,’ and that’s true,” he laughed.
While the overhaul was pretty major, Thalmann and Cooprider have kept some things consistent, such as the same coaching staff for the past six to seven years.
“The same five guys have been at high school, the same three guys have been at middle school for five years,” Thalmann said.
Plus, they’re starting to put their offensive sets in at the youth football program level.
One of the biggest signs of success, though, is that “the players are holding each other accountable now,” Thalmann said. “That’s a mark of a good team. Places that are perennial powerhouses are where the players are holding each other accountable, not the coaches. That tells me we’re knocking on the door of being teams like Andale, Derby, Garden Plain and Cheney.”
But for Thalmann and Cooprider, coaching doesn’t end on the gridiron.
“We build relationships with them. Not just at school, football or basketball, but outside of that as well. We do things with them in the summer and have get-togethers with them during the season. We have relationships with them after graduation that make it special.
“My greatest satisfaction would be having a consistently successful program, that the record is good every year, but also the players have good grades and good character and are involved in things outside of football,” Thalmann said.