Women's History Wednesday Profile: Cynthia Cooper.

Cooper Playing with the Houston Comets

Val Ackerman calls Cynthia Cooper the first superstar of the WNBA. The 33 year old guard put the Houston Comets and the WNBA on the map, winning the first four titles, and the first two MVP awards, in league history. Cooper, or Coop as she was known, was an exciting player. She played with a level of intensity that not many could match, Coop was known to be the first player on the court and the last player off. Although Cynthia Cooper was always competitive, she learned how to be an elite winner though her journey.

Chicago-born, California Made

Cynthia was the 5th born of Mary and Kenny Cooper’s eight children. Coop was born in Chicago, but her family moved to California when she was one years old. Cynthia grew up in Watts, California. Many hear Watts and think of a tough inner-city community. “There is so much negativity when people talk about Los Angeles ... I actually had a great time, I had a great childhood. It’s always tough when you grow up in the inner city, but when you make the most out of it, you can come out of it and achieve some great things.”

Despite having a lot to manage as a single mother, Mary never left Cynthia or her other children in want of the necessities in life, or a role model. “She raised eight kids by herself and give us everything that we needed, and all of the tools to be successful.” However, being the middle child in a single parent certainly brought its challenges, "You're just trying to survive, dealing with the older bosses and the younger babies. It toughens you up and helped me be ready for anything."

That “ready for anything” disposition would lead her to success at nearly every level of her career. Cooper began making a make for herself as Los Angeles track star, competing in the 300-meter hurdles , the 400-meter dash, long jump and high jump. Her first desire to play basketball came in the 10th grade, when she saw a girl from a local high school gracefully execute a behind-the-back layup, "I thought, 'Wow, that's pretty cool.'”

Cooper hit the gym and local courts in her pursuit to learn the new game quickly. By her senior year in high school, Coop led her team to a City Section and State Championship. Cooper was named City Section Player of the Year to cap her senior campaign.

USC Career

Cooper and Cheryl Miller at USC

All of Coop’s hard work to become a great basketball player earned her a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC). Although Cynthia was recruited by other schools to play track, Coop had her mind set on playing basketball. It was the drive to win and be successful that helped Cooper overcome the transition from Watts to the private SoCal University. Entering USC, Cooper had a new goal, to prove her worth,“I wanted to win. I was always willing to put in the work to be successful. That was my goal, was to be really successful. And to show that I deserved to have a scholarship and I deserved to be at USC.”

Cooper, along with other USC great Cheryl Miller and Pam and Paula McGee ushered in a new era of USC Trojan Women’s Basketball. Before the Coop and the crew, USC Women’s basketball had never won a national title. By Cooper’s sophomore year, the team won two NCAA titles. Cooper would see USC to three Final Four appearances in four seasons, before leaving to play ball overseas.

International Career

Team USA Photo

Cooper left USC before graduating to play professional basketball in Europe. In 1986, she began her career in Spain with Samoa Bétera for one year, and averaged 36.7 points per game, making her the league’s leading scorer. By 1987, Cooper moved to Team Parma in Italy, she led the league in scoring in 8 of her 10 seasons; she ranked second in scoring the other two season. It was tough being away from home, but Cynthia was committed to being a professional athlete, “It was tough to live in another country, away of family and friends.” However, Cooper appreciated the opportunity to experience more than her humble background might have allotted, “I got a chance to learn a different language. I speak fluent Italian. I got a chance to learn another culture. I traveled around Europe, and see places that I would have never gotten to see. Remember, I’m an inner city kid. I would have never had the opportunity to travel the world had it not been for playing overseas and on the USA national team.”

Cooper first represented Team USA while she was still in high school, the teenager was invited to play for the American Team for the William Jones Cup in 1981. The USA claimed the silver medal, while Coop posted a 2.8 ppg average and nine steals in eight games. Cooper also made the roster for the inaugural Goodwill Games hosted by Moscow, Russia in 1986. The team beat out the favorite Soviet Union 108-88 to win the first gold medal. Cooper averaged 2 point per game in the tournament.

By the 1988 Olympics, Cooper became a main contributor to Team USA. In the Seoul, Korea games, Cooper set USA records for single game 3-point FGP with a perfect 1.000 (currently tied for 1st with Katie Smith), and most point in a single game with 27 against the Soviet Union (currently tied at 5th with Karina McClain and former teammate Tina Thompson). The 1988 team won gold in the Olympic games, and Cooper would claim a bronze medal with the 1992 team.

Cooper still ranks 3rd in career 3-point field goal percentage with a .464 average during career Team USA appearances, and 6th in career Olympic games appearances with a .444 average.

A Star Is … Reborn

Cooper was 34 when she returned to the United States to play basketball with the first ever professional domestic league, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). With over ten years of professional experience under her belt, Cynthia Cooper found yet another arena where she could challenge herself. Being back in the United States was also an opportunity to share her passion and her professional career with the one fan that mattered the most, “My major reason for wanting to come back over and play was that I was able to reconnect with friends and family members who had not seen me play in 11 years. The opportunity to play in the WNBA was great because now my mom could see me play and actually be a part of her daughter being a success.”

Her mother Mary and the rest of her family did not have to wait long to participate in Coop’s success. Cynthia won the the first four WNBA Championship titles as a member of the Houston Comets (folded in 2008). Cynthia also won the first two league MVP honors, and the first four WNBA Finals MVP honors. She is the only player in the history of the league to win the WNBA Finals in three consecutive seasons, and the only player to win the award more than twice. Cooper was also named to the All-WNBA team in her first four seasons. By the time she retired in 2000, she had four titles, was the first player to reach the 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 2,500 points milestones and scored in the double digits in 92 consecutive games. She was named as one of the top 15 players in the history of the WNBA during the 2011 All-Star game.

After a brief coaching stint, Cooper returned to the Comets one last time during the 2003 season, making her the oldest active player in the league at 40. Don’t let that stat fool you, Coop still had plenty of game left!

In her final season, she reached a career high 5.5 assists per game, 36 minutes per game and .893 free throw percentage. Cynthia Cooper started every game she ever played in the WNBA.

Coaching Career

USC Trojans Head Coach

After her WNBA career, Coop took a stab at coaching. She coached one year in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury. However, Cooper found her stride as a college coach. Cooper began her new coaching career at Prairie View A&M, the program had never seen a winning season prior to Cooper. Cynthia Cooper got the program in the win column during her second season, posting a 19-14 record. The 2007 team also won its first SWAC regular season title and SWAC Tournament Title. With the Championship win, Prairie View earned its first ever NCAA Tournament berth, and Cooper was named SWAC Coach of the Year. Cooper would lead the Lady panther to two more regular season titles, and an additional SWAC Championship & NCAA berth, and would win Coach of the Year honor again. The team also earned two WNIT bids in 2008 and 2010.

In 2011, Cooper took the helm at UNC Wilmington. The Seahawks were 12-19 the prior season, and improved to a 24-9 overall record. UNCW captured the second seed going into the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament. The Seahawks fell in the CAA Semifinals, but earned a berth to the WNIT, their first ever invitation to post-season play. Cooper won her third career Coach of the Year honors, this time as the 2011 CAA Coach of the Year. The next season, UNCW had another 20-win season, and again earned a bid to the WNIT.

Cooper would continue her winning ways at Texas Southern, a historically black college. In 2013 TSU won their first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season championship. TSU finished the season with an overall 20-12 record, setting program records for season victories (20) and consecutive wins (15). TSU advanced further than ever before in the postseason. The Lady Tigers advanced to the SWAC Tournament semifinals and earned a WNIT berth, both program firsts and both under the leadership of Cooper.

Returning to SoCal

April 11, 2013, Cynthia Cooper was announced as the Head Coach of USC.

Athletic Director Pat Haden saw the selection of Cooper as an excellent way to return USC to Women’s Basketball glory, "In Cynthia Cooper, we have a proven winning coach who happens to be a USC basketball icon, she was a part of the best basketball ever played here at USC, and she has seen success at so many levels of the game. As a coach she has turned around several programs. We believe she can lead USC back to successful women's basketball, and we welcome her back to the USC campus."

In her first season, USC posted its first win over a ranked opponent since 2011. In the PAC-12 Tournament, USC upset Stanford in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. Cooper led USC to a PAC-12 title and the first berth to the NCAA Tournament since 2006. USC finished the season with a 22-13 overall record, an improvement from 11-20 the season before. Cooper made her fourth NCAA Tournament appearance as a Head Coach with the Trojans.

Although Coach Cooper is apart of the team to bring USC two NCAA titles, Cooper’s jheri curl might actually be more famous among her team, "They'll pull old photos of me off the Internet and show up to practice with pictures of me wearing short shorts and a puffy Jheri curl. It's a source of laughter for them." In 2016, Cooper completed her third season as head coach at USC.

Hanging in the Hall

In 2009, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, along with former player Jennifer Gillom, Jennifer Azzi, Sonja Hogg, Jill Huchison and Ora Washington. In 2010, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke was the first WNBA player inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. At her enshrinement ceremony, Cooper-Dyke expressed her gratitude to the WNBA, “I want to thank the WNBA, if it had not been for the WNBA allowing me the opportunity to showcase my talents, and other players talents, I wouldn’t be here in the Hall of Fame because I would have been overseas playing basketball in the shadows.”

As we prepare for the 20th season of the WNBA, and potential draftees prepare for a future after college, Cynthia Cooper is among the pioneers of the league, and women’s basketball at every level. She has, and continues to leave an indelible mark on girls and women across the country. So, on the eve of Coop’s birthday, let’s raise the roof for Number 14!