Excerpt from 2023-24 National Coaches of the Year NEWS RELEASE:
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (January 13, 2025) — Twenty-four high school coaches from across the
country have been selected as 2023-24 National Coaches of the Year by the NFHS Coaches Association.
The NFHS, which has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982, honors
coaches in the top 10 girls sports and top 10 boys sports (by participation numbers), and in two “other”
sports – one for boys and one for girls – that are not included in the top 10 listings. The NFHS also
recognizes a spirit coach and an Adapted/Allied/Unified coach in separate award categories. Winners
of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award. This year’s
awards recognize coaches for the 2023-24 school year.
Recipients of the 2023-24 national awards for boys sports are: Timothy Vinson, baseball, Iberia
(Missouri) High School; Mike Hilmer, basketball, Troy Mills (Iowa) North Linn High School; Kevin Hopp,
cross country, Stevens Point (Wisconsin) High School; Tiger LaVerde, football, Kirtland (Ohio) High
School; David Kuhn, golf, McMurray (Pennsylvania) Peters Township High School; Tim Beck, soccer,
Glendale (Arizona) Ironwood High School; Dusty Thomas, swimming and diving, Boaz (Alabama) High
School; Terry Swopes, tennis, Ada (Oklahoma) High School; Ernie Brooks, track and field, Prineville
(Oregon) Crook County High School; and Maurice Atwood, wrestling, Gibsonville (North Carolina)
Eastern Guilford High School.
Tennis
Terry Swopes
Ada, Oklahoma
Terry Swopes has coached boys and girls tennis at Ada High School since 2006, leading the
junior high teams and assisting at the high school level until 2019. He was a part of nine Oklahoma
Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) state championships as an assistant coach. He took
over head coaching duties in 2020 and last season broke through, leading the boys and girls teams to
OSSAA state titles. It was an especially special achievement for the boys team, comprised of seniors
who have played tennis together since elementary school. In their sophomore year, a teammate
tragically passed away, which bonded the group further with a shared goal to win a state title in his
honor. Swopes was named Oklahoma Tennis Coaches Association Class 4A Coach of the Year in 2024
after winning the award for Class 5A in 2022 and 2023. He has also served three terms on the
Oklahoma Tennis Coaches Association Board of Directors and is the current association president.
