Lakers legend, NBA Hall of Famer Michael Cooper named Cal State LA men's basketball head coach
NBA Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Laker legend Michael Cooper was introduced as the new head coach of the Cal State Los Angeles men's basketball team on Wednesday.
Cooper, who has been an associate coach with the school's program since 2023, now takes on his eighth head coaching job since retiring from basketball in 1991. He succeeds Jim Saia, who was the head coach of the Golden Eagles for the last decade.
During Wednesday's introductory conference, Cooper spoke on the tenets that have made him a successful coach in the past.
"I've always said it takes five Ds to win a championship: determination, dedication, desire, discipline and decision-making," Cooper said. "I've incorporated those principles into my coaching philosophy, and they will be pillars of what we do here at Cal State LA."
He went on to say that one of his main goals is to build a program that the university can take pride in by emphasizing the need for fundraising, strengthening ties with the Los Angeles community and boosting fan support.
"The Lakers are L.A., Michael Cooper is L.A., and Cal State LA, we are L.A.," Cooper said.
Now 69, Cooper was one of the NBA's premier defensive standouts during his tenure with the Lakers. From 1978 to 1990, he was a five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team player and three-time Second Team player. He was the 1987 Defensive Player of the Year and won five NBA Championships with the Purple and Gold.
After a one-season stint in Italy, Cooper retired from playing and joined the Lakers as an assistant coach in 1994, kick-starting a long and successful coaching career. He would leave the Lakers two seasons later to join the Los Angeles Sparks staff as an assistant before taking over the helm in 2000.
He coached the Sparks to back-to-back WNBA Championships in 2001 and 2002 and was named the WNBA's Coach of the Year in his first season.
After the 2004 season ended, Cooper forayed back into the NBA with the Denver Nuggets as an assistant in 2004 and as their interim head coach for a portion of the 2004-05 season. He then moved to the NBA's G-League as the head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, with whom he won a championship in 2006.
Cooper rejoined the Sparks from 2007 to 2009 before moving on to coach the USC Trojans women's basketball team from 2009 to 2013. He then ventured back to the WNBA with the Atlanta Dream before moving back to Los Angeles.
From 2019 to 2023, he would coach two local high school programs at the Chadwick School on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Culver City High School.
Cooper is a Los Angeles native who played his own high school basketball at Pasadena High School. After graduating in 1974, he spent two seasons with Pasadena City College and then the University of New Mexico. He was selected in the third round of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Lakers, with whom he spent his entire NBA career.
During an interview with USA Today in 2002, Boston Celtics star and NBA legend Larry Bird said that Cooper was the best defender he faced during his career. He was one of three Lakers to play on all five of the Lakers' 1980s NBA Championship-winning teams, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson.
He was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024 and had his No. 21 jersey retired by the Lakers in 2025.
