Ben Hopkins

> My problem is, I care too much. I love basketball and I love this team. Right here. I love you guys. I love coaching you guys.
>
> Ben Hopkins to the Lenwood Colts, The Pilot

**Ben Hopkins** is the main character of the Netflix animated series *Hoops*. He is the angry, foul-mouthed coach for the Lenwood Colts, the Lenwood High School basketball team. He is voiced by Jake Johnson.

## Appearance

Ben has short brown hair and fair skin.

He commonly wears a blue track suit and white sneakers.

## Character

Hopkins is a foul-mouthed individual who is angry at everything. He's "a pathetic, angry, foul-mouthed coach desperate to prove himself but always looking for an easy way to get the job done. He’s shameless and selfish, and given the opportunity to do the right thing, he fails most of the time."

His estranged wife Shannon is dating his best friend Ron. His father is Barry Hopkins. He has a bad relationship with his father, Barry, feeling that he is constantly in his shadow. He feels that his father respects neither him nor his desires and is adamantly opposed to the idea of working at his father's steakhouse.

Loudmouthed and crass, he will do just about anything to get what he wants. He has few ethics, though has some lines he won't cross, stating that he would beat up a kid with Hodgkin's lymphoma, though not one with *advanced* Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He dislikes listening to other people's personal problems, tending to cut off any attempt by someone to share them with him with a loud shout of "Boring!" Despite his other character failings, he is sometimes fiercely protective of the members of his team, even going so far as stand up for them against bullies. It is unclear, however, how much of this is simply because he wants them to perform well to make him look good.

## History

Ben was born from a one-night stand that his father Barry had at a party. His mother came to his father approximately nine months later with a baby wrapped in a newspaper, telling him he had to raise him, as she was doing three-to-five for punching a congressman. She later shivved a warden, upping her sentence to life.

In his youth, Ben was originally polite and well-mannered. Things changed after he first met Shannon, who as a child was a lot like what he ended up becoming. She encouraged him to become more expressive, leading him down the path of being a hothead. The two would eventually get together and get married, but Shannon would eventually come to the realization that she needed to change.

## Plot summary

### The new player

After going on another foul-mouthed rant, Coach Hopkins is ejected from a Lenwood Colts basketball game. He is then pressured by Principal Opal Lowry, who tells him that the school board is coming down hard on her and he can't be both an asshole and a losing coach. He tells him he has to turn things around and that it's all over for him if he doesn't. Hopkins therefore visits Matty, the tallest student at Lenwood High School, in the hopes of landing a seven-footer for the team. Unfortunately, Matty has never been interested in playing before and shows no signs of agreeing to play despite Hopkins's earnest pleas and outright attempts at bribery.

Stymied, Coach Hopkins hatches a desperate plan, saying that he's going to get Matty laid. In doing so, he ends up trying to hire a hooker, Connie, but finds himself $415 short. His father won't give him the money, wanting him to help out at his steakhouse and his wife Shannon, in the process of divorcing him, won't even give him time time of day. He eventually somehow manages to con enough money and resources out of the basketball team, only for both him and Connie to get arrested before Connie even makes it through Matty's front door. Both are eventually bailed out and Hopkins goes to Lowry to offer his resignation, only to find that Matty has joined the team, saying what Hopkins did was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. The team loses the game by 16 points, but it is enough to save Hopkins, as the score is far closer than it ever has been before.

### Daddy issues

Hopkins is shocked to discover that Shannon is apparently seeing someone other than him or his friend and assistant coach Ron, who is dating her. He is even more shocked to learn that the mysterious individual is his father, Barry Hopkins. He confronts her about dating his father, but she tells him that it isn't like that: that Barry is like a mentor to her and her second dad. While dealing with this, he also struggles to smooth out relations between Matty and the rest of the Lenwood Colts basketball team.

Hopkins learns that Shannon and Barry are attending the funeral of his third cousin, Tony, and decides to attend as well. Angry that Shannon is using his father as a "replacement dad," he decides to take on his own replacement dad as well in the form of Shannon's father. Unfortunately, his replacement dad is an old cranky man in a wheelchair, who seems barely aware of his surroundings. Hopkins tells Barry that the man is a good listener, who doesn't make him feel like a disappointment. Then, Shannon learns what's going on and reveals that the man is actually *not* her father, but rather a man named Willy Rothbart who bought her parents' old house. The man dies on the spot at the wedding and both Hopkins and both Ben and Barry Hopkins attend his funeral.

### Unethical

Coach Hopkins learns that he is in danger of having Matty cut from the team because of Matty's GPA possibly dropping below 2.0 if he fails his ethics exam. He decides to fall back on one his standard tactics, bribery, only to learn that Matty's ethics teacher is Lonnie Seymour, who is notoriously upright and seemingly can't be bribed. Despite this, he tries a number of increasingly desperate tactics, none of which work against the resolute Seymour. Ultimately, he comes up with a plan to frame Seymour for child abduction. When Matty refuses to go along with it, Seymour appears, revealing that he knew about the plan all along. He reveals that Matty passed the exam simply by refusing to go along with Hopkins's plan.

### The unwanted sponsor

At a team budget meeting, Hopkins tries to pitch to Principal Opal that the team needs $50,000 for a state of the art weight room, only for her to laugh him off as stupid, telling him that the entire sports budget is $3,700. He later meets with her again and learns that she has signed up his father's steakhouse as a sponsor for the team. Hopkins is angry at first but then goes to his father, who tells him that he respects his domain and that he wants what's best for him. This mollifies Hopkins, who tells his father that he loves him.

Hopkins, however, later goes to the gym, only to find a statue of his father outside and massive banners and stickers for the steakhouse all over the gym. That evening, there is a massive crowd for the game, but Hopkins is still upset over the situation with his father. He is even more upset when he learns that his father has promised the entire town free steak at his restaurant if the Colts lose, as he is essentially betting against the team. Channeling his anger at his father, he stokes the resentment the players on the team feel at their own fathers as well, telling them to think of their fathers as they play. Driven on, they manage to score the winning point just before the buzzer, causing Barry Hopkins to have to buy steak for the entire town. At the steakhouse, Shannon, Hopkins's friend Kirk and assistant coach and friend Ron confront Hopkins with a foul-mouthed boy named Gunnar. They claim that Gunnar is Hopkins's child from a woman named Tina Fitzsimmons, forcing him to reveal that he lied to them about having sex with Tina.

### Girlfriend trouble

Hopkins takes sleeping pills one evening, causing a version of himself known as "Pill Ben" to manifest. He texts a woman named Allison, and ends up having a meeting with her at his father's steakhouse. However, during their meeting, he is unable to present the super-confident version of himself that Pill Ben is, causing her to leave and call him the same loser that he was in high school.

Hopkins discovers that Matty has gotten himself a girlfriend named Wendy. He believes this to be a bad thing, as he is sure that having a girlfriend will distract Matty from playing basketball. He tells the team that the number one rule of the team is "no girlfriends" and that they weaken legs. He then starts scheming to get Wendy to break up with Matty. He visits Matty's mother, Crystal Atkins, telling her that her daughter is dating a monster, making up nonsense about Matty having punched an old woman's teeth out. The story is successful is getting Wendy to break up with Matty, but Hopkins is shocked to discover that rather than this making Matty a better player, he is instead devastated over the loss of his girlfriend and barely able to play at all.

Trying to fix things, Hopkins takes Matty over to Shannon's place to watch an old tape that he once made for her, something he made when he was "Pill Ben." However, Matty also ends up seeing the second half of the tape, which is quite disturbing. Nevertheless, Matty is inspired by the tape, but tells Hopkins that he doesn't have the moves that Hopkins has. Hopkins explains that it was actually "Pill Ben" on the tape and agrees to try to summon Pill Ben to help Matty. That evening, however, when he takes a whole bunch of sleeping pills, Pill Ben goes over to Wendy's house, breaks in, graffitis the wall, and urinates. Hopkins ends up in jail, but things are ultimately resolved when Matty delivers a video to Wendy, inspired by Hopkins's video, and she convinces her mother to drop the charges.

### Anger management

After assaulting a mascot at a Colts game, C.O.C.C., the Coalition of Costumed Characters, demands that Hopkins be sent to anger management. Unfortunately, Hopkins has already been to just about every anger management counselor in town and there's only one left that may be able to help him: an unconventional counselor known as the DAWA, who self-statedly is not so much a counselor as a "spiritual guide."

Things do not go well at Hopkins's initial session. He tries to fast talk the DAWA into signing a paper to get him out the session but the DAWA tells him that there are no shortcuts. He walks out, only for Principal Opal to drag him back, as she personally has C.O.C.C. riding her. Back at the DAWA's, Hopkins and DAWA bond over the film *Little Man Tate* and the DAWA teaches Hopkins some meditation techniques that seem to be working. Hopkins, however, then discovers the DAWA with a frog with hallucinogenic poison. The DAWA tells Hopkins that he is not ready, but he takes the frog and squirts its poison into his mouth, going on a very strange trip indeed. Afterwards, the DAWA tells Hopkins that he's passed through his training and gives him his certificate. At the next game, Hopkins is seemingly a totally different person. He behaves calmly even as one of the Colts players, Scott, is mercilessly badgered by a group of school bullies called the "Gay Mafia." As things continue, however, he has a vision of Jodie Foster telling him to let loose and does so. He scares away the Gay Mafia and earns the respect of the members of C.O.C.C., who know what it's like to be bullied.

### The Strike

Hopkins goes to a dentist appointment, only to be submitted to a substandard treatment due to Lenwood faculty not having dental insurance. He complains to Opal, only to get no sympathy due to her preoccupation with the possibility of an upcoming teachers' strike. He then goes to the Colts, telling the team that the upcoming game is an important one due to an ongoing bet he has with the team's coach, Damian Chapman. He's always lost before, but he thinks that this year he can win due to having Matty. It's personal for him in more ways than one, as his father Barry idolizes Chapman, and he wants to prove that he can be a better son than Chapman.

Hopkins goes to Chapman, bragging about having a seven-footer, only for Chapman to tell him that he has two seven-footers in the form of a duo known as the "Chin twins." Hopkins becomes convinced he will lose the game, but learns that if there is a teachers' strike, the game will be canceled. He therefore hijacks a union meeting, easily overpowering the meek arguments of the elderly lady union leader, Ms. Henderson, and rouses the group into going on strike. He presents all sorts of outrageous demands and is surprised at how readily the school board caves, determined to keep the strike going until after the scheduled date for the match is over. He then sees a newspaper story indicating that both of the Chin twins have been sidelined by a car accident. He therefore ends the strike, earning the rage of the teachers, who end up stuck with an even worse deal than they had before. Then, at the game, he learns that the news story was planted by Chapman in order to get him to end the strike and make a fool of himself. The Chin twins dominate the game and Hopkins is forced to have the lyrics to the song "All Star" tattooed onto his back and butt.

### The grief counselor

Hopkins and the rest of Lenwood High School attend the funeral of Coach Singleton, one of the other coaches at the school. During the funeral, Shannon argues with Hopkins about his still not having signed the divorce papers. Hopkins gets a food delivery, but the deliveryman, Kyle G., gets set on fire by one of the candles and burns to death. In response to the double tragedy, Principal Opal brings in a grief counselor named Dr. Brooks. She quickly finds herself face-to-face with Hopkins and, to her irritation, finds herself not dealing with his grief about death, but instead with his issues related to Shannon. He tells her a lengthy story of his past and when she tells him that it has nothing to do with the events of the past 48 hours, he somehow manages to twist her words into an endorsement for getting back together with his wife.

Hopkins paints Shannon's truck red, calling it a "grand gesture," but Shannon is less than impressed, given that he is also painting over her windows. She ends up seeing the grief counselor too, who, hearing more of the story, seemingly takes her side. In the end, they both confront Dr. Brooks as she goes to her car, and end up hearing a story from Dr. Brooks, which they cut off, saying that it's boring. Brooks is then killed by another driver with a delivery for Hopkins.

### On the road to nowhere

Hopkins is excited when the Lenwood Colts are accepted into a prestigious invitational in Cincinnati, convinced that it is his chance to finally make it big. Unfortunately, he misses the morning bus and is forced to beg a ride from Shannon. While assistant coach Ron pretends to be him at the invitational, Hopkins and Shannon get lost on the road. Then, while stopping at a gas station for directions, Shannon's car gets stolen. The two are forced to walk together for miles before they finally encounter a restaurant and saloon named "Tinhorns." There, recalling her past experience, Shannon sets a record riding a mechanical bull, winning them a prize that's seemingly big enough to get them back on the road, until they learn that the $200 is in gift certificates good only at that restaurant.

Hopkins is forced to watch at the restaurant a television broadcast of Ron posing as him, taking the glory he had hoped would be his. He chats with Shannon and they agree that despite everything they've gone through, the night was actually kind of fun. He then presents her with a birthday present: the signed divorce papers. Shannon is touched by the gesture and the two have sex in one of the restaurant's closets. They finally make it to Cincinnati, where Hopkins discovers that the invitational has been canceled due to everyone on the teams having chemical burns due to an ill-advised stunt by the Colts. Ron then apologizes to him, saying that a friend doesn't do to a friend what he did.

### Henderson Prep

Elated at having sex with Shannon, Hopkins goes around the entire town of Lenwood, spreading the news to everyone he can. He is quickly brought back down to Earth when he meets up with her at his father's steakhouse, only for her to tell him that she feels it was a terrible mistake to have slept with him and she doesn't want to get back together with him. He then gets more bad news when he meets a man who introduces himself as Coach Lamonte, who intends to scout Matty to come play at the prestigious Henderson Prep. Hopkins doesn't want to lose his star player and finds that Matty too doesn't want to leave, as he's come to bond with the Colts. Matty, however, knows that his mother, Crystal, would leap at the opportunity for him to go to a school like that. Therefore, Hopkins hatches one of his plans to keep Matty's mother from finding out about what's going on.

Hopkins hires Connie, the hooker, to pose as Matty's mother. Unfortunately, she fails in her job, allowing herself to be swayed by Lamonte's argument as to why her "son" should attend Henderson Prep. Hopkins goes to Lamonte, begging him not to take Matty away, but Lamonte tells him that if he can convince Matty to come, there might be an assistant coaching position in it for him. This puts an entirely new spin on things for Hopkins, who personally goes to Matty's mother and convinces her to have Matty attend Henderson Prep. He then goes to Matty, pretending to still be upset, and promises to come with Matty so that Matty won't be alone with nobody that he knows at Henderson Prep. Matty, never the sharpest at seeing through such a ruse, is touched.

Hopkins goes to the gym in and orders everyone in for an assembly. He gives a big speech telling everyone off and then hangs up his jacket, only to lower it back down, thinking that he left his keys in it. His dramatic statement ruined, he tells the audience off one last time before leaving. He then goes around town, flipping everyone off, before driving over to Matty's. He finds his pathway blocked by the members of the Colts team, sans Matty, who express their anger at him for trying to leave without saying goodbye. He tells them that it's not goodbye, just "so long for now," and claims to have presents for them. He gives them junk out of his car and drives off with "Thanks, losers," leaving them to finally realize what an awful person he is. He picks up Matty and ends up getting a flat tire, stymied by the fact that he gave the spare to Marcus.

## Quotes

* "*It's just a thing I do when I'm bored, like a catchphrase for boring stuff.*" - Coach Hopkins to Crystal Atkins regarding his use of the word "Boring!"
* "*Last, but not least, the final rule: absolutely, under no circumstances, and I don't care how good-looking the fucking thing is, no sex with animals." - Coach Hopkins reading off supposed rules for the Lenwood Colts basketball team, "Ethics"*

## Trivia

Jake Johnson, voice of Ben Hopkins, stated that the character's arc was very simple: "Coach wants his ex back and he wants to prove his dad wrong. And in that, let's get as many jokes as we can."

## Appearances

Ben Hopkins appears in the following episodes:

## References

1. ↑ Hoops Comic-Con@Home 2020. Comic-Con International (July 26, 2020). Retrieved on July 26, 2020.
2. ↑ *Deadline*: ‘Hoops’: Premiere Date & Teaser For Netflix’s Adult Toon Series; Rob Riggle & Others Join Cast by Erik Pederson. July 20, 2020.
3. ↑ Halterman, Jim (August 21, 2020). Jake Johnson on 'Salty' Language in 'Hoops' — Plus, Which 'New Girl' Stars Stop By?. TV Insider. Retrieved on August 30, 2020.