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Texas Southern announced Thursday that women's basketball coach and WNBA legend Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has retired. "Coach Cooper-Dyke has had a tremendous impact on TSU women's basketball since her arrival and moved the program to new heights," Texas Southern vice president of intercollegiate athletics Kevin Granger said in a statement. "She will be missed as I wish her nothing but success in her future endeavors." Cooper-Dyke, a four-time WNBA champion and Finals MVP with the Houston Comets as well as a two-time league MVP, spent four seasons coaching at Texas Southern across two stints, leading the Lady Tigers to their first SWAC regular-season championship and a WNIT berth in 2012-13. Texas Southern (11-15, 11-7 SWAC) concluded its season last week with a 68-67 loss to Southern in its first game of the conference tournament. Compiling two 20-win seasons along the way, Cooper-Dyke finished with a 56-47 record at Texas Southern. After her first season at Texas Southern in 2012-13, Cooper-Dyke departed to take the head job at USC, her alma mater. She won a pair of national championships as a player there, in 1983 and 1984. She went 70-57 in four seasons there before resigning in 2017. Her coaching career also included stops at UNC Wilmington (2010-12), Prairie View A&M (2005-2010) and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury (2001-02). Across those stints, she earned three conference Coach of the Year honors and three NCAA tournament berths (one at USC and two at Prairie View). According to the school, Granger will assume day-to-day duties until Cooper-Dyke, 58, is replaced.
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