Roper named new football coach at Massac County High School

Jason Roper hopes this is the fresh start he needs. In the same breath, Massac County is certainly hoping for the same thing.

The former Harrisburg High School head football coach was hired by the Massac County school board Monday night in a meeting and will become the school's sixth coach.

Roper replaces John Warren, who the last two years went 1-17.

"This is a great opportunity for me," Roper said Monday. "I think we have the opportunity to build something really special here at Massac County. That starts with a winning culture and we're going to do that from the bottom up."

Roper has been out of coaching for three years, but while at Harrisburg, he spent nine seasons as the Bulldogs' head coach, going 48-42 and making the playoffs six times. The last was in 2012 when the Bulldogs went 11-2 and lost to Rochester in the IHSA Class 4A semifinals.

Roper has four SIRR Ohio Conference titles as head coach and was named SICA 4A Football Coach Of the Year in 2012.

"I think you hear the world 'culture' a lot in the coaching profession, but something I want to do is build a winning culture here at Massac County," Roper said. "We have to create a winning mindset and I believe the fun for myself and our coaching staff will be to take this program, start from scratch and do things you believe in."

The last winning season for Massac County football came back in 2009 when the Patriots finished 7-3.

Since then, Massac County has gone 12-69 and in that span had two seasons of 0-9 football. The Patriots are 5-40 in the last five years.

To change the tide, Roper said he is hoping to establish three levels of football at Massac County, which in turn means, trying to get more kids to come out and establish a coaching staff where everyone is on the same page.

Massac County is the second school in the Southern Illinois River-To-River Conference Ohio Division to hire a new football coach this spring. Earlier this month, Benton announced the hiring of Justin Groves, who replaces Bob Pankey.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.