After helping the Golden Eagles to a historic season in 2023-24 and providing valuable assistance in 2024-25, former Los Angeles Lakers great and basketball Hall of Famer Michael Cooper returns for his third season as the associate head coach with Cal State LA’s men’s basketball staff. Cooper, who won five National Basketball Association championships as a key member of the Lakers, has been synonymous with winning as a player and as a coach.
He won five titles as a player and added four more as a coach, two as the head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, one as the head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA’s D-League and the most recent, a California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament Title as an assistant coach with Cal State LA.
Cooper helped the Golden Eagles set a new program record for wins in 2023-24 with a 24-8 season that included a first-ever CCAA tournament title and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Region and the program’s first NCAA appearance since 2000.
Cal State LA also earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II West Region and hosted the 2023-24 West Regional. The Golden Eagles received national recognition and were ranked 17th in the nation in the final National Association of Basketball Coaches regular-season poll
Cal State LA went 7-1 against Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State San Bernardino and Chico State of the CCAA and was a combined 8-3 overall against West Region playoff teams.
The Golden Eagles not only reached the CCAA Tournament final for the first time, but they won the crown with an exceptional 73-62 win over Cal State San Bernardino in San Bernardino in the championship game. Cal State LA, as the No. 3 seed, beat San Francisco State, 84-62, and Cal State Dominguez Hills, 75-73, to reach the title game.
Cal State LA used a key late-season comeback win at Cal East Bay and reached the conference tournament for a second straight season in 2024-25. The Golden Eagles were 12-17 overall and fell to Cal State San Bernradino in the first round of the conference tournament to end their season.
It was a monumental 2024 for Cooper in addition to Cal State LA’s success. The eight-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection received a number of memorable accolades in recognition of his tremendous playing career. In April, he was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in October.
In addition, his No. 21 jersey was retired by the Lakers in a ceremony on Jan. 13, 2025. Earlier in 2024, Cooper had his number retired by Pasadena High School.
He also a member of the Pasadena City College Hall of Fame, the University of New Mexico Hall of Honor and the state community college 3C2A Hall of Fame.
Cooper was a key member of the Lakers during the Showtime Era, helping the team to five NBA titles in the 1980s with her versatility and his unmatched defensive skills. He earned NBA All-Defensive honors eight times in his career, including five first-team selections and a Defensive Player of the Year award in 1987. When he concluded his 12-year career with the Lakers in 1990, Cooper was in the top-10 in 3-point field goals (428), games played (873), minutes played (23,635), steals (1,033), assists (3,666), defensive rebounds (2,028), offensive rebounds (741) and free-throw percentage (.833).
After concluding his playing career with a one-year stint in Italy, Cooper embarked on a lengthy coaching career that has also been exemplary. He earned WNBA Coach of the Year honors in 2000 with the Los Angeles Sparks and led the team to back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.
After leaving the Sparks following the 2004 season, he was an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets, where he became the interim head coach for 14 games.
Cooper then became the head coach for the Albuquerque coached in the NBA D-League for two seasons, leading the Thunderbirds to a title is his first season in 2006.
Cooper returned to the Los Angeles Sparks for three more seasons, leading the team to the Western Conference Finals in two of the three years.
Cooper left the Sparks and became the head coach of USC’s women’s team for four seasons, leading the Trojans to a 72-57 overall record, including a 24-13 record in 2010-11. He then returned to the WNBA as head coach for the Atlanta Dream for four seasons.
He was the head coach at Culver City High School’s boys team from 2021-23 before joining the Golden Eagles for the 2023-24 season.
In all, Cooper had a 230-158 record in 12 years as a WNBA head coach, a 50-48 record in two seasons as an NBA D-League coach and a 72-57 record in four seasons as a college head coach.
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