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Cynthia Has Mercury Rising - NY DAILY NEWS By ADAM RUBIN
But the honeymoon will have to wait for Cynthia Cooper and Brian Dyke. Shortly after getting engaged late last year, Cooper — the WNBA's all-time leading scorer and four-time finals MVP — was named head coach of the Phoenix Mercury. So three days after her wedding, Cooper was leading her first training camp as a coach. The couple instead will honeymoon after the season in Jamaica.
"It's wonderful being a coach," said the 38-year-old Cooper, who won her fourth straight WNBA title with Houston last year before announcing her retirement. "But having your life complete with the man of your life is awesome." Cooper inherits the Mercury from Cheryl Miller, a former USC teammate who resigned in December after a 20-win season, the best in franchise history. Cooper enters with no head-coaching experience, a factor she thought could work against her in the Mercury's coaching search. "After 15 years, I felt it was time to move on," Cooper said about her playing career, which included 10 seasons in Italy. "My team had won four championships in a row and I felt like I accomplished everything I set out to as a player with women's basketball." Mercury officials said there was no hesitation in naming a retiring player head coach. "Much like her predecessor, Cheryl Miller, Cynthia brings instant credibility to this organization," Mercury president Bryan Colangelo said. "That's something we've been successful with in the past, with former players making the transition." Said team VP Seth Sulka: "It was interesting to get a call from someone like Cynthia Cooper during this whole process. You immediately want to listen." Already, there's anticipation for Cooper's first meeting with the Comets, June 10 at Phoenix. In fact, the WNBA revised its schedule, moving the game from June 8 so that it can be televised nationally by NBC — replacing a Liberty-Washington contest. "It's going to be strange," Cooper said about facing Houston. "It was strange just coaching (an exhibition game), with me being out of uniform, with the players that six months ago I was playing against. I didn't know how I was going to react. Playing against the Comets definitely will be emotional, no matter where we play. Luckily, I'll have a couple of games under my belt." Said Houston coach Van Chancellor: "She works unbelievably hard. She gets up at 5:30 every day. Anybody who works that hard usually makes a pretty doggone good coach."
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was in Hawaii scouting basketball players. She was there to be
a guest speaker at a tournament. And when they saw each other
poolside at an Oahu hotel in November 1999, a relationship
emerged, one that led to marriage on April 28.
