Re: Another odd Pac-10 hiring

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: (SD)Michael Cooper's hiring at USC was a given, it was well known he would be Mark Trakh's replacement,they were just trying to get him out of his contract with the L.A. Sparks which they were unable to do so he will coach this summer with the Sparks then join USC sometime in Oct depending on how far the Sparks go in the WNBA. : I doubt his leaving the Sparks is a bad sign for the WNBA, it's strictly a financial move for him, fact is College WBB pays more than coaching in the WNBA.Mercury coach Cory Gaines was trying to hook up with Paul Westhead in Oregon as his asst coach during the college season but the Mercury didn't go along with that idea! : Cooper is not really a bad idea for USC, he is a great coach just as Westhead is up at Oregon. : Question is, can they both recruit in college women basketball.I know they can coach but they will need some good asst coaches that can recruit for them. : USC was not going to hire a women basketball coach as long as Mike Garrett is the AD, he's old school and only cares about one thing at USC, duh, FOOTBALL! Garrett has never been a supporter of Title 9 or women sports, why do you think USC does not have a softball team to compete along side UCLA.Garrett tolerates women's sports because it's a requirement by the Pac 10 conference that you have to carry a team in football,men & women basketball and volleyball but he gives the women programs min support, before USC build the Galen Center WBB used to play in Lyon Gym which was equal to a old HS gym! : USC recruits because of the school,like I said the WBB program gets little support, it has a small fan base, if you ever went to some of their games at USC you could see that, there never was much pressure to win if Mark Trakh had not quit I still think he would still be the head coach.We'll have to see if Michael Cooper can change that attitude,if he can't I don't really see him being that long at USC! : ************************************ : : I'm probably in the minority on this, but Michael Cooper to USC doesn't make nearly as much sense as USC would like you to believe. There are a few messages that come out of this hiring, though... : : Cooper leaving the Sparks for a college job is a bad sign for the WNBA. Why would he leave? He has Candace Parker, and while I know she's getting ready to have a baby, she will be back. Parker can carry a team by herself, so as long as she's in uniform, the Sparks are a serious title contender. The slide in the economy is being felt by niche-leagues (Arena Football is the best example), and the WNBA may not be far behind the AFL in having to make some painful decisions. That would explain Cooper's decision to leave. : : Now, is he the best choice for USC? I don't think so. There's no way Cooper came cheap, so if you're going to pay for a coach, why not pay for one who is already established at the Division 1 level? USC recruited very well under Mark Trakh, so it's not like SC is a disaster area. : : To me, and I hope I'm wrong, it looks like another example of an AD who doesn't understand women's basketball making a hire because it looks good. Paul Westhead at Oregon, Michael Cooper at USC...what's next? Bill Laimbeer? Richie Adubato? John Shumate? : : If Mike Garrett really cared about women's hoops, he would have walked into College Park, told Brenda Freese it was time to come back to the West, and sent a message to the rest of women's college basketball world that the West Coast is ready to be a national player again. Instead, he treated the job like a bus stop. Cooper will stick around until he convinces an NBA team to bring him on board, which should be about two years. On one level, it's great for the Devil Nation -- no threat from the Women of Troy. On another level, it's bad, because the rest of the country continues to snicker at the Pac Three and the slack seven. : : I could be wrong, way wrong about all this, and I look forward to hearing from Sand, Huskie4Mercury, and Ladydevilfan. Debate helps pass the time til October.

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