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.

UH opens Sumlin era with 55-3 win over Southern

Game statistics

Quarterback Case Keenum torched the Jags for 359 passing yards and five touchdowns — both career-highs — while completing 33 of 43 passes in only three quarters of play.

With all the buildup heading into Kevin Sumlin’s first game as coach of the Houston Cougars, you almost expected a letdown when they finally took the field Saturday to play the Southern Jaguars. Too much was expected of the Cougars, who were installing new schemes on both sides of the ball and were trying to find new playmakers at key skill positions. But despite the pregame hype, the Cougars still managed to impress, rolling to a 55-3 victory before a rowdy crowd of 26,555 at Robertson Stadium.

Everything seemed to click for the Cougars, who enjoyed the highest-scoring coaching debut in school history, eclipsing the 54 points Bill Meek put up against Montana in 1955, despite emptying the bench late in the third quarter.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Attendance: 26,555 at Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX (Capacity 32,000).

U.Houston not expecting romp vs. Southern U.

The University of Houston never punted while romping in its first two games against Southwestern Athletic Conference schools. The next SWAC team up is Southern, which plays UH in the third Cougar Football Classic at 6 p.m. Saturday in Robertson Stadium. Will this game between two teams from different levels of Division I football be another mismatch?

It’s nothing to lose. It’s everything to gain,” senior defensive end Vince Lands said. “We want to show what Southern football is all about.”

“Those are proud guys and they are going to come in here and give us all they want,” first-year Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said. UH beat Grambling 42-22 in 2006 and winless Texas Southern 59-6 last season. Although Grambling was the defending SWAC champ that season, the Tigers went 3-8 and, combined, those teams were 3-19 in the seasons they played Houston. In comparison, UH went 18-9, won the 2006 Conference USA title and went to two bowl games.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Southern ready for cat fight in Houston

Storm or no storm, the Southern Jaguars are ready to take the field against the Houston Cougars this weekend.

VIEW VIDEO: CLICK BLOG TITLE.