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After eight seasons as the only head coach in the D.C. Divas women's football team's history, Ezra Cooper resigned from the position earlier this month. Team owner Paul Hamlin interviewed four candidates and Tuesday morning he tabbed Keith Howard as the Divas' new coach.

For the past five seasons Howard was the head football coach at Crossland High School, and this fall he is the wide receivers' coach at Catholic University. Howard said he was looking forward to next month's tryouts and also thanked Cooper for establishing a tradition of success with the Divas.

"One thing we're looking to do is get more athletic players and then pound the fundamentals," said Howard, who expected to complete his coaching staff this week. "Our coaching staff is going to get acquainted with the players quickly and teach. We're really walking into a great situation. Coach Cooper did an outstanding job building the foundation of excellence. What we've seen from the league is the teams are becoming so much more athletic and that's the direction that we're heading."

"He really made a great presentation," Hamlin said of Howard. "He had spent the past year with the Divas and he's such a great motivator. He comes with a wealth of coaching experience and knowledge of the game."

Cooper's teams went 57-17, leading the local women's football team, which plays at the Sports & Learning Complex in Landover, to four division titles and the 2006 National Women's Football Association championship. Hamlin noted that Cooper was admired and respected by the women he coached.

This past season, in their second year in the tougher Independent Women's Football League, the Divas went 4-4 and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2002. The Divas ended the season with a 17-12 setback against Pittsburgh in what would be the team's only home loss in Cooper's eight seasons.

"It just seems like each year the league is getting tougher," Hamlin said. "The Boston team was completely reconstituted and now they're very good, the Pittsburgh team is strong and the New York team has always been strong. It's not like we have a draft or college women to choose from. We have to choose from local talent and hope that occasionally we can get women from other teams who just happen to move into the area."

Hamlin noted that Howard would not receive a salary, but would be reimbursed for travel and expenses. The Divas are scheduled to have tryouts for the 2009 squad on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 at the Sports & Learning Complex.

"Each year, we probably have 45 or 50 women come out for the team," Hamlin said. "We're always going to have some turnover. Some women just don't want to endure the physical toll and others just retire. It's not fair to say that you're looking to rebuild because you're always adding and dropping players. We just want to keep a core group in place and fill the gaps with players that we lost."

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.