John D. Harper may well be a would-be film director moonlighting as a football coach. Or a football coach moonlighting as a would-be film director. He did return to school to study movie making in 2000. However, no matter how you look at it, you would be hard pressed to find a coach more passionate about what he does, or more successful in Europe.

When football general managers look for a head coach, they want a person who has been successful and has had many years of experience. They look for a person who can turn programs around and a coach who can motivate players and knows the game of football inside and out. They look for someone who is not deterred by geography or location. And many teams, it seems, have found that person in Harper, head coach of Vukovi Belgrade, who play in one of the Serbian leagues and in the Central European Football League.

Vukovi clinched their second consecutive Serbian championship this year by defeating the Ljubjana Silverhawks 42-20 to add another winning season to Harper’s already undeniably impressive record, while also capturing the CEFL title. Just counting the regular season, since 1991 Coach Harper has guided, or helped to guide, nine different teams in four different countries to highly successful records not to mention championships. His overall regular season coaching record is an amazing 57-9-1 and as an assistant or head coach he has won the European championship twice, the Champions league title once, the Italian championship, the Austrian division 1 championship, the Central European Football League championship and the Serbian championship twice.

This native of New Mexico with aspirations of becoming a movie director (he studied at the NYU School of Film), graduated from the University of San Diego, where he played football. After obtaining his degree in Business Administration in 1986 he headed to Europe to find a team. He found one in Novara, Italy where, in addition to playing tailback, strong safety and leading returner, he was head coach and ran both the offense and defense. The year before the Lancers had gone without a win (0-10). Under Harper, they sailed to a 6-3-1 record.

He followed this up the following season with the Milano Black Knights and as offensive coordinator transformed the team into the number one ranked offense in the league. He continued as head coach of the Ancona Dolphins, winning the division with a 10-2 record. Following a season with the UC at Santa Barbara where he coached the offensive line for the 6th rated passing offense in the country, Harper took some time away from football.

He returned with a vengeance in 1999 coaching the receivers and the defensive secondary for the Bergamo Lions helping the team to an undefeated season and an Italian championship. The Lions brought him back in 2000 and the team went undefeated again winning the Italian championship and also added the European championships, repeating the feat in 2001. While John was with Bergamo the team had a record of 49-1 and their receiving corp and secondary were ranked among the very best in Europe.

In 2005 John took over as head coach of the Catania Elephants (based in Sicily) of the Italian Football League and promptly took the team to the Italian semifinals as the team finished the year as the top ranked offense in the country. He followed this up with a perfect 7-0 regular season record the following year after staying in Sicily throughout the offseason. The team went to the 2006 Italian semifinals.

In 2008 Harper was named head coach, as well as offensive and defensive coordinator, of the Saint Polten Invaders of the Austrian first division and guided the team to its first championship game in many years. The following year, 2009, Vukovi Belgrade handed the coaching duties over the John and in his two years there he has compiled a 30-1 record winning the Central European Football League titles in back to back seasons. He defeated the Cineplexx Blue Devils from Austria for the title in 2009 and recorded a narrow 30-27 loss to Austrian champions, the Danube Dragons, in an exhibition game in early 2010.

However, despite this record of success, John is considering his options. Whether John Harper continues to coach football, or turns his attention to film, his approach will always be with passion.

“I love sports, especially football, and in the same way I love being a film maker, whether it is in front of the camera or behind it.” says Harper. “What is great with sports is that you can’t write the script. It is always fresh. Films can give you something, something that gets to you. But great things happen on a field without a script, where players run a play and then talent takes over.”