Cooper Can’t Break From Game

When Dean Cooper resigned as women’s basketball coach at Southern California College after last season, he said he was retiring from coaching to give himself more time to play golf and fish.

Turns out Cooper wasn’t able to make a clean break. He’s back on the bench as the assistant coach for the Concordia women’s team. This, however, doesn’t mean Cooper, 63, has given up his leisure time pursuits.

His golf game, for instance, is thriving: He’s shooting in the 70s more often lately. But Cooper and his wife, Christine, worried that he would get bored without basketball, so when Concordia Coach Dave Wolter offered the part-time position, he accepted.

Wolter, knowing that Cooper has other priorities, has given him carte blanche to miss practice or even games. Cooper said he has taken advantage only once--skipping practice for golf--because he’s having too much fun.

“I’m getting the best of both worlds,” Cooper said. “I can still teach basketball, which is what I dearly love to do, and not have the responsibility of being a head coach.”

Cooper didn’t enjoy the paperwork and recruiting aspect of running a program, which partly led to his decision to step down at SCC after four seasons. He had taken over the Vanguard program in 1992, quickly boosting SCC from mediocre to formidable. In four years, he had a 65-55 record, including 10-20 last season.

Another reason Cooper felt comfortable leaving SCC is that he left the program in solid shape in the hands of a handpicked successor. SCC Coach Russ Davis was Cooper’s assistant last year.

Davis actually offered Cooper a chance to stay on as an assistant, but Cooper decided it wouldn’t be fair to the new head coach to have the old one hanging around.

Cooper also declined an offer Azusa Pacific, another Golden State Athletic Conference school.

Wolter said his players have immediately responded to the former Vanguard in their midst.

“The kids really like him,” Wolter said. “We all really liked him when he was at SCC. He’s just a classy guy.”

Cooper is happy he can concentrate fully on teaching basketball again. A former English teacher and boys’ basketball coach in Ohio, he retired to Costa Mesa and spent several years coaching basketball at Costa Mesa High before moving over to SCC.

“They’re eager to learn. They want to be coached,” Cooper said Tuesday of the Concordia players. “In fact, I’m going over there early today to help someone put in some extra work before practice.”

Wolter said having such an experienced assistant is a coup for the Eagles, who are off to a rolling start this season. Concordia routed its first four opponents--beating Mills (122-25), UC Santa Cruz (109-61), Patten (104-42) and Bethany (99-55)--on the road.

Friday, the Eagles play at Pomona-Pitzer and Saturday is their home opener against La Sierra.