When Scott Cooperman stepped down as the athletic director at William Allen High School, he may have left that position but never left the local sports scene. Especially the local baseball scene. Cooperman has spent the past 35 years around Lehigh Valley baseball and has served as a youth coach, high school coach and coached a season at Lehigh Carbon Community College along with his 21-year career as the AD at Allen. Cooperman’s newest role will be as the head coach at Northwestern Lehigh, replacing Duran Porrino who stepped down after the 2021 season.

Cooperman’s connection with baseball coaching began in 1986 as an assistant coach for the South Parkland Youth Association and a year later, he added duties as a coach in the West End Allentown Youth Association. He also started as an assistant coach with Allen in 1986 and took over as the head coach ten years later and, serving as the Canaries coach for four seasons.

In 1999, Cooperman took over the Allen athletic program and served as AD until 2020. His time with Lehigh Carbon Community College came in 2009. He has also served in various capacities with the Lehigh Valley Gators and the Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy.

Perhaps the coaching position that he is most proud of is in helping his three sons who all played baseball at various levels.

“I have always enjoyed working with kids and my kids were all very active and still are active in coaching with baseball programs around the Lehigh Valley,” he said.

Since leaving Allen, Cooperman has been watching for the right coaching opportunity to open and jumped on the opportunity to join the Northwestern Lehigh program.

“There is such a solid community at Northwestern and that is a big plus,” said Cooperman. “Having parents and the whole community behind the team provides a good foundation and brings a true passion that you can’t replace. I’m looking forward to being a part of that community and working with parents, staff and fans to make the team as successful as possible for the kids who put in all the hard work.”

Former coach Porrino met with Cooperman during the search for a new coach. Both men came away with a good feeling about each other and where the program can go under Cooperman’s leadership.

“We want to build a strong fall program to help players get in shape and get ready for the season and we’ll work a lot with strength and agility,” Cooperman pointed out. “I am also a big proponent of kids playing sports other than baseball. I want to encourage our players to play other sports and use all their talents. High school sports are so important for kids, and I’ll encourage that.”

As for what kind of coach Cooperman will be, he spoke about stressing fundamentals, especially on defense. At the plate, he wants to keep things simple and stresses simply putting the ball in play and not relying on home runs to put runs on the board. With pitchers, he plans on focusing on throwing strikes and taking advantage of the defensive skills of the players on the field.

“I just believe in doing things the right way and helping kids to learn how to do that,” he said. “I think you can win a lot of ball games by relying on fundamentals and taking care of all of the little things along the way.”