Cooper-Dyke building UNC Wilmington into a winner

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke Photo Album

Excerpt:

She spent five seasons at Prairie View A&M - which had lost at least 20 games 12 times in the 15 years before her arrival - and won or shared three straight Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles while taking the Panthers to NCAA tournaments in 2007 and '09.

"I felt like, being in the SWAC, no matter what we did, no matter who we played in the (nonconference schedule), we were always going to get that 16th seed and always be seeded against a No. 1,'' she said. "Because our RPI is so good (in the Colonial Athletic Association), I really felt like being in the CAA would give us an opportunity to legitimately fight for a title.''

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE, CLICK TITLE

Cooper-Dyke Bringing Hall of Fame style, Broken Clipboards to UNC-Wilmington

TOWSON, Md. -- As Cynthia Cooper-Dyke turned to walk out a side door of the Towson Center to board the team bus for a seven-hour ride in the middle of the night back to Wilmington, N.C., it was gently brought to her attention that she had broken yet another clipboard in that night's game in frustration over her team's play.

"How many is that this year?" asked Cooper-Dyke. "Five," answered an assistant coach. There are three things that make that situation pregnant with irony. First, UNC-Wilmington, where Cooper-Dyke is in her first season as head coach, had just beaten Towson by 29.

Second, the win moved the Seahawks to a 21-6 overall record and to 13-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association, keeping them in contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid.

READ MORE, CLICK HERE



READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Seahawk women's basketball team notches 20th victory of the season
UNCW women's basketball team exacts revenge on Panthers

UNCW women win ugly against Northeastern

Hanging with Cooper-Dyke has Seahawks flying high Size doesn't matter

Turnaround trio leaves mark on PV

 Basketball Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper-Dyke  

Like Robertson, Cooper-Dyke, Frazier departs after reviving dreadful program

Henry Frazier III’s decision to leave Prairie View A&M for North Carolina Central last week closed the book on one of the school’s most successful football coaches.

It also signaled the exit of the last remaining coach in Prairie View’s former “big three.” The three were Frazier, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (women’s basketball) and Michael Robertson (baseball). They stood out as Prairie View’s most significant coaches in recent years because of their roles in turning around programs that were doormats before their arrival.

When Robertson began in 2003 after leaving Forest Brook High, the baseball team had won only 17 games in...

Northern ready for the next step at Prairie View

Heishma Northern was placed on the fast track to become a Division I head coach when Prairie View A&M named him coach-in-waiting Oct. 13.

It turned out to be much faster than the sixth-year defensive coordinator or most others envisioned. Northern was elevated to head coach Monday after Henry Frazier III stepped down to pursue coaching opportunities at programs in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. A person familiar with the situation said Frazier, who went 43-30 in seven seasons at Prairie View, will fill the coaching vacancy at North Carolina Central.

Meanwhile, Northern is left with the keys to a program that went 32-9 over the last seasons and won the Southwestern Athletic...

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

New UNCW coach humbled to be joining basketball hall of fame

On Friday, former Prairie View A&M University coach and alumna Cynthia Cooper-Dyke will become the first former WNBA player to be inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I don't think it has completely sunk in yet. I still think I'm wavering on the edge and I don't really feel like a hall of famer, but I think when I get to Springfield (Mass.) and I start to do the different events I will start to feel like an inductee of the class of 2010," the first-year UNC-Wilmington women's basketball coach said earlier this week.

"It's an amazing feeling to know that you are being honored and rewarded for all of the sacrifices that you have made throughout the years."

Cooper-Dyke grew up as one of eight children being raised by a single mother. It's here where Cooper learned her best trait, hard work. "My mom was just a special woman," Cooper-Dyke said. "She raised eight kids by herself in the (Los Angeles) inner city of Watts. She worked her way from welfare to having a job and taking care of the eight kids by herself and she did a terrific job."

With that life, basketball wasn't something Cooper-Dyke grew up with. She didn't start playing competitively until she was a teenager, yet led her Locke High School team to its first state title as a senior. That was Cooper-Dyke's first taste of a championship, but it certainly wouldn't be her last.



READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

PVAMU's Cooper-Dyke Named UNC-Wilmington Head Coach‎

Former Praire A&M University coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke leaves the Lady Panthers in better shape, with a 85-72 record/64-26 in the SWAC over the past five years and two NCAA Tournament appearances. The PVAMU alumna accepted a four year contract at UNCW starting at $110,000 for the first year, with an annual increase of $5,000, thereafter. In 24 years in Division I, UNCW Seahawks have a record of 304-430 with no post season appearances.

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has been named the head coach of women’s basketball at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. FOX 26 Sports first reported on Friday that Cooper-Dyke was the leading candidate for the coaching job. Cooper-Dyke, 47, will be formally introduced as the new head coach at a news conference on Monday. She will take over the helm of the Seahawk program following five years of success at Prairie View A&M University.

"I have agreed to a four-year contract and I'm excited," Cooper-Dyke said in an interview Monday with FOX 26 Sports. "Every coach, every player wants to grow and this is part of my growth process. "The Colonial Athletic Conference is a strong conference with schools like Old Dominion, Drexel and James Madison. It is going to be a huge challenge and I think that's what every coach wants." Cooper-Dyke said it is not easy leaving Prairie View A&M. "I'm always sad to leave a program that gave me a chance to be a Division One head coach," Cooper-Dyke said. "I will always love Prairie View and I will always consider them as family."

As a former college great, Olympic gold medalist and Women’s National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player, Cooper-Dyke will be enshrined into the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 13 in Springfield, Mass. “We’re thrilled to welcome Cynthia to the Seahawk family,” said Kelly Mehrtens, UNCW’s athletic director. “She has been ultra-successful at all stages of her life and I’m confident she will elevate our women’s basketball program. She has an intense passion for the game and loves motivating young people to achieve their best, both on and off the court.”
UNCW names Hall of Famer Cooper-Dyke women's hoops coach

Wilmington, N.C. (Michael Jordan's hometown) -- One of the greatest players in the history of women's basketball will soon call the Port City home. UNC Wilmington will introduce Cynthia Cooper-Dyke as its women's basketball coach at a Monday afternoon news conference. Cooper-Dyke replaces Ann Hancock, whose contract was not renewed. Cooper-Dyke will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.

A native of Chicago, Cooper-Dyke was a four-year standout at Southern California, where she sparked the Women of Troy to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1983 and 1984. She later completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Prairie View A&M. Cooper-Dyke, 47, collected four medals while representing the United States. She won a gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, captured gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, claimed gold at the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Malaysia, and won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Cooper-Dyke began her professional career overseas and played 10 seasons in Spain and Italy. She returned to the United States in 1997 to play with the Houston Comets of the newly-formed WNBA.

Cooper-Dyke file

READ MORE, CLICK TITLES.

I can understand Coach Cooper-Dyke making this move...all you need is one visit to the seaside town of Wilmington, N.C. and the campus of North Carolina-Wilmington and you will be packing up the family for a quick move. Never found a college town so peaceful and relaxing on a sunny fall day with beautiful weather nearly year round. I had the opportunity of driving my son over to Wilmington for a soccer tournament last year and enjoyed the entire day in Wilmington and the UNCW campus. Definitely a beach front city you would want to take the family for an inexpensive vacation. The magnet here is the lack of excessive commercial development that you find in most ocean front communities.

However, dang shame the SWAC and MEAC let a Hall of Fame coach get away to a directional school with no history of winning for $117,500 average salary over four years. Cooper-Dyke replaces Ann Hancock, who was fired. Hancock received a salary of $87,167 for the final season of her 10 year career at UNCW. (beepbeep)

Prairie View A&M's Cooper-Dyke Chooses to Exit UHouston Search

Updated: 4/17/10, 12:05 AM - HOUSTON, TX - College basketball sources told FOX 26 Sports that Prairie View A&M University women's basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has removed her name from consideration to become the next women's head coach at the University of Houston.

Sources told FOX 26 that Cooper-Dyke decided it was in her best interest to remain with the Lady Panthers program where she has done a sensational job since 2005. Prior to her arrival, the women's team at Prairie View A&M had never had a winning season.

(Translation: Cooper-Dyke learned that this opportunity wasn't a good fit for her career path)
------

HOUSTON, TX - College basketball sources told FOX 26 Sports on Tuesday that the search for a new women's basketball coach at the University of Houston is picking up steam. Sources told FOX 26 that UH officials will meet this week in Houston with three candidates -- all of them are current head coaches. They are Prairie View A&M's Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Todd Buchanan from Houston Baptist University and Jodi Kest from University of Akron.

Sources told FOX 26 that UH officials are not at the stage where they are labeling these candidates as finalists for the job. Cooper-Dyke, recently elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has been the head coach at Prairie View A&M since 2005. Prior to her arrival, the Lady Panthers never had a winning season. In the last five years, Cooper-Dyke has led Prairie View to three SWAC regular season titles, earning two trips to the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the Women's NIT. Cooper-Dyke is a former star with the Houston Comets. She led them to four consecutive WNBA titles.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

University of Houston Speaks with PVAMU Coach Cooper-Dyke‎

HOUSTON, TX - FOX 26 Sports has learned that University of Houston officials contacted Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Prairie View A&M University women's basketball coach, as part of the process to find a new coach for the Cougars. College basketball sources told FOX 26 that UH officials conducted a preliminary interview with Cooper-Dyke on the phone. The sources said that the university has also spoken with other candidates in a similiar fashion and that UH is in the early stages of the process.

The Cougars' job opened when Joe Curl resigned because of health issues. Cooper-Dyke was announced on Monday as one of the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is the highest individual honor that a player or coach can receive in the sport of basketball. As a player, Cooper-Dyke did it all leading the University of Southern California to a pair of national championships, winning Olympic gold and leading the Houston Comets to four consecutive WNBA championships. And as a coach, Cooper-Dyke is doing a sensational job at Prairie View A&M.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

Unexpected boost from Boogaard lifts KU in WNIT win over Prairie View

Oh, Canada. Saskatchewan native Krysten Boogaard produced a career-high 37 points in a rare start as Kansas plunked Prairie View A&M, 82-70, in its WNIT basketball opener Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse. “I just knew I needed to fill some big shoes,” Boogaard said. Back in January, the 6-foot-5 junior lost her starting job to Carolyn Davis, but Davis suffered a recurrence of an earlier concussion and had to sit this one out. With Boogaard dominating the paint against the undersized Panthers, the Jayhawks didn’t miss Davis at all.

“It was a huge evening for her,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “She did a great job of getting in front of the rim, and the guards got a lot of passes to her, too.” “I don’t think we were prepared for the intensity that she brought tonight,” Prairie View coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said of Boogaard. “She maintained that level of intensity on both ends of the court all game long, and that we weren’t prepared for.”

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

VIEW VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
Lady Jayhawks win, advance

Prairie View to play at Kansas in WNIT

PVAMU Lady Panthers Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke faces University of Kansas in first round of WNIT. Kansas enters the tournament with a 15-15 overall record and a 5-11 Big 12 mark.

LAWRENCE, KS -- The University of Kansas women's basketball team, under sixth-year head coach Bonnie Henrickson, has been selected to play in the postseason Women's NIT for the third-consecutive season. The Jayhawks will host Prairie View A&M on Wednesday, March 17 in Allen Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The postseason appearance is Kansas' fourth under Henrickson and the 20th in school history. The Jayhawks, who went 4-1 in last season's WNIT, collected wins over Creighton, Arkansas, New Mexico and Illinois State before falling in the title game to South Florida.

Prairie View A&M, enters Wednesday's game with a 15-13 overall mark and a 12-6 mark in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. The Lady Panthers finished second in the SWAC, but fell in the first round of the conference tournament to Alabama State. Prairie View A&M is coached by the legendary Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and is led by Candice Thomas with 14.8 points per game, while Dominique Smith pours 13.6 points a game.

Printable 2010 WNIT Bracket: Women's NIT Schedule and Bracket ...

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

Injuries bedevil PVAMU Panthers

PVAMU Coach Cynthia Cooper Dyke has the Panthers on pace to win its fourth consecutive SWAC regular-season title.

Prairie View A&M coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke must wonder whether she's running a women's basketball program or an infirmary. The Panthers are one of the most injury-riddled teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, having lost four players for the season. One of those players is senior guard and reigning SWAC Player of the Year Gaati Werema, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament during practice Jan. 29.

Werema joined guards Latia Williams and Dieynaba Toure on the list of players whose seasons were ended by torn ACLs. Guard Trinity Robinson was expected to return from a broken wrist this week, but she'll miss the rest of the season after opting for surgery to repair a broken bone. Werema was averaging 13.5 points and a team-leading 8.8 rebounds. To make matters worse, guard Candice Thomas (15.7 points per game) is playing with a sprained knee.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

Prairie View coach agrees to 4-year contract

Prior to Cooper-Dyke's arrival on campus, the Lady Panthers had never had a winning season.

Prairie View A&M has reached an agreement on a four-year contract with women’s basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. “Prairie View is where we want her,” athletic director Fred Washington said Wednesday. Cooper’s original four-year contract expired at the end of last season.

Cooper, a former star with the now-defunct Houston Comets, has led the Lady Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons and one trip to the Women's NIT. During that span, Prairie View has won three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles and two postseason conference tournament titles.

“We hadn’t seen very much success in women’s basketball,” Washington said. “We had never approached 20 wins, which we had the last two years, and never seen championship-caliber performances or the level of interest in women’s basketball from our fans or potential student-athletes that we have now.”

Washington said Prairie View A&M has reworked the contract of football coach Henry Frazier III and signed men’s basketball Byron Rimm II to a new four-year contract. It's great keeping a coach who can coach anywhere."

PVAMU women’s basketball players Gaati Werema, Candice Thomas and Dominique Smith were selected by USA Athletes International to represent the United States in the 2009 Vienna Basketball Tournament in Vienna, Austria. The Lady Panthers trio are competing abroad this summer from May 28th – June 6. This is a first for PVAMU and the SWAC and shows the superb influence of Coach Cooper-Dyke on HBCU basketball on the global stage.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
PVAMU Women's Basketball Travels Abroad to Vienna
Cooper-Dyke Re-Signs with Prairie View
Prairie View coach signs 4-year deal

Prairie View tops Southern University Lady Jaguars

PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS — Prairie View avenged its only Southwestern Athletic Conference loss of the season by holding off the Southern women’s basketball team 59-51 Saturday night at the William J. Nicks Building. Dominique Smith scored 17 points and Candice Thomas added 15 points, seven rebounds and five steals to lead PV (20-10, 17-1), which has won its third straight SWAC regular-season title, all under former WNBA superstar Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.

The Lady Panthers have won 16 straight games, all since losing 63-58 on Jan. 5 in Baton Rouge. Gaati Werema added 10 points and 10 rebounds and Shondria Combs 11 points. Deidra Jackson scored 17 points and had seven rebounds and three steals to lead SU (14-12, 11-7). Ashley Augerson added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Jamie Floyd had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Lady Panthers Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is poised for a breakout post-season in the SWAC and NCAA Tournaments.

“I was really pleased with the kids’ effort,” SU coach Sandy Pugh said. “I thought they played really hard.” PV scored the game’s first 11 points, holding Southern scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the game. SU recovered and eventually led 35-33 after Jackson made a pair of free throws with 14:35 remaining in the game. “I think they were in a tentative mode, and then Deidra took over,” Pugh said. “They made some stops, and their confidence got up.”

“We couldn’t get the stop at the other end,” Pugh said. “We were tired. … We gave it all we had. “Prairie View is solid, playing at the top of its game. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Area Colleges Notebook: Cooper-Dyke refuses to let up
PVU cruises past Southern
McDaniel, Prairie View bench beat Southern, 76-60
Women’s basketball continues stellar play

Tough non-conference benefits Prairie View women

Prairie View A&M women's basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's philosophy has been to take life a game at a time.With a 6-1 record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play, life has been pretty good for the Lady Panthers, who host Alabama State Saturday afternoon (5:30 p.m.). The two-time defending conference champs have ripped off five straight wins since a 63-58 loss to Southern Jan. 5 and are reaping the benefits of a daunting non-conference schedule.

"Our biggest concern is that we don't want to peak too soon," said Cooper-Dyke. "We know everyone has been the aggressor against us, and that's something we need to change. We've worked on that in practice, so now we have to be able to turn the tables against our opponents." The Lady Panthers had their mettle tested in an 83-77 overtime win at Arkansas-Pine Bluff Monday, where Prairie View had to overcome a 17-point deficit with 12 minutes left. In Cooper-Dyke's eyes, the rally could serve as a turning point for the team.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Prairie View A&M Athletics Back and Stronger than ever

by Prairie View A&M Sports Information

Once one of the weakest programs in the SWAC, PVAMU has rebounded to claim its place among the SWAC’s elite

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas- With recent success in football, women’s basketball, men’s indoor track and field, volleyball, baseball, and men’s tennis the Prairie View A&M athletics program currently stands as one of the strongest athletic programs in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

An in-depth look at how far the program has come

When taking into account where the program was just eight years ago one can only begin to marvel at the turnaround the department has made as a whole over the past seven years. The turnaround began to take form in 2001 when current PVAMU Athletics Director Charles McClelland was selected to take leadership of an athletics department that had been marred by losing programs and financial instability.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers football team at one point lost 80 consecutive games, a streak which still stands as an NCAA record and spanned nearly a total seven years (1991-98). The 1991-92 PVAMU men’s basketball team went 0-28 during regular season play setting an NCAA record. That feat was matched by Savannah State in 2005 (0-28) and eventually broken by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (0-29) in 2008.

The Panthers baseball and men’s tennis team are two other programs within the department that struggled in years past. Up until 2006 Panthers baseball had never had a winning season or won a conference title. Men’s tennis had fallen off the radar after 1970 which was their last SWAC Championship season.

Women’s basketball failed to reach the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament in several seasons leading up to the hiring of current head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. The program had also never won a conference title or completed a 20 plus win season.

The current state of Panthers and Lady Panthers athletics

Currently the Prairie View A&M athletics program ranks pound for pound as one of the best programs in its conference. Last fall PVAMU athletics placed second in the SWAC’s Commissioner’s Cup.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

Now that Prairie View is conquering the Southwestern Athletic Conference, it's time to aim high and become a beast in the NCAA playoffs in women's basketball, men track and field and baseball. What's more amazing 'bout this turnaround is it has been accomplished with the second lowest athletic budget in the SWAC. Only Mississippi Valley State University has a lower budget than the PVAMU Panthers.

The crown jewel of this coaching staff is simply Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. This former WNBA head coach has the recruiting capability and coaching skills to lead a premier institution to the NCAA Final Four. I would love to see Cooper-Dyke move her athletic vision for greatness further south to an "unnamed HBCU" and its brand new 9,000 seat arena which is due for completion in February 2009.

With the Florida hot bed of superior women basketball talent which Cooper-Dyke dipped into with the signing of three players from Orlando Christian Prep, (freshmen guards Trinity Robinson (5'-7"), Dominique Smith (5'-10") and starting sophomore guard Gaati Werema (6'-0"), she has proven she can recruit against superior Division I programs with huge budgets.

Cooper-Dyke, operating with PVAMU's pea sized budget was able to swoop into Florida and snatch 21.4 percent of her present team including Gaati Werema, who was ranked by Rivals.com as the eighth (8th) best woman player in Florida in 2006. The talent she has assembled at Prairie View is truly remarkable for an HBCU taking the low budget approach to athletic supremacy.

Imagine the possibilities for Cooper-Dyke with a brand new first class division I arena, an institution with a legendary athletic and academic program history, capital city location and easy access to recruiting hotbeds in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas and California. But, more importantly--a national stage to perform her craft and a conference with better positioning to the NCAA Tournament.

Cooper-Dyke run at Prairie View may be short lived as the call for a larger paycheck for her accomplishments will keep other athletic directors knocking on her door with offers that PVAMU cannot possibly match. There is a brand new arena due East-Southeast of Texas that is begging for crowds of over 5,247 that Cooper-Dyke has been able to attract for a home Lady Panther basketball game (w/Texas Southern).

The last time that a national championship was purchased on the cheap was 1966, when Coach Don Haskins led Texas Western College (today: University of Texas at El Paso) to the NCAA Division I men's national basketball championship.

Haskins and Texas Western (28-1 record) made history by starting five African American players for the first time in a championship game against Kentucky’s all-white squad, coached by Adolph Rupp. Texas Western won 72-65 over the storied program and the 1966 team was nominated in its entirety to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Haskins was inducted to the Hall as coach in 1997 and the entire Texas Western College team was inducted on September 7, 2007. The 2006 movie, "Glory Road" that memorialized the achievements of the 1966 Texas Western team did in fact have a positive impact on the latter event coming to fruition for the team members.

Oh, the possibilities with Cooper-Dyke as head women's basketball coach at a premier HBCU with a generous budget and honorable salary for this accomplished coach. No doubt, with proper financial and athletic program support, she has the capabilities and passion to move a college program successfully towards an NCAA tournament national championship.

We must first dare to dream--then pursue the dream!

Being cheap gets you nowhere in today's college athletics but out on the street recruiting for new coaches for the possible future Hall of Famers that were recruited away from you for a bigger paycheck and a national stage to showcase their talents and coaching abilities.

Prairie View A&M University is now prime for the taking of a few good coaches over gridiron, diamond, court, track and field.

-beepbeep