Bob started his wrestling at Watertown High School under the able guidance of Upstate New York Chapter's Hall of Fame Coach, Bob Ridall (2008). At Watertown, he won the Northern Region championship in 1967 and was a member of Ridell's first undefeated team that sported a 13-0-1 record. He would later wrestle at Oswego State for Hall of Fame coach Jim Howard (1997).

Coach Coppola enjoyed a 37-year coaching career in Section III with 35 of those years at the Central Square High School. At Central Square he coached baseball, football and wrestling for the Redmen, and to this day still opens and closes the Central Square Athletic Stadium.

Bob's coaching career has been exceptional. In 1985 he guided George Korthas to the first state championship that Central Square has ever had, and just last year Kole Mulhauser, 2022 Robert Feldmeier Most Valuable Wrestler honoree for the Chapter, became the second state champion for the Redmen. Additionally, Coppola has coached four NYSPHSAA place winners, fifteen Section III Champions and ten runner-ups during his career at Central Square. Furthermore, he was honored as the league's Coach of the Year eight times (1995, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015) and directed 2 Section III Class AA team championships (2007, 2008). Twenty-six of his wrestlers have won more than 100 matches in their careers and two have reached the 200 wins milestone.

Coach Coppola has been acknowledged for his coaching expertise in 2018 by gaining entrance into the Section III Hall of Fame. Moreover, he collected the Section III Service Award and has been recognized by the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce for his service as a coach. In his Section III Hall of Fame bio they stated, "Bob's greatest memories are that he coached his son Jamie and his grandson, Dante, as well as registering his 600th win as a coach."

Bob's son, Jamie, summed up his father's career by stating this: " My father has spent most of his life dedicated to the sport of wrestling and helped to mold many boys into becoming hard-working, responsible adults. It is through the sport of wrestling that my father touched the lives of many, many people. He used the sport of wrestling to connect and help his wrestlers on and off the mat. Coach Bob "Cope" Coppola has amassed many accomplishments that very few coaches have had in their careers." Those powerful words help to describe the impact Bob has had.

Bob has two children, Jamie and Stephanie, and Joyce had one son, Adam, as well as 13 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Presently they live in Brewerton and spend their winters in Florida. It is both an honor and privilege that the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame induct Robert Coppola into their Hall of Fame.