Cooper Chosen Coach of Year

The Sparks’ rookie head coach, Michael Cooper, was named the WNBA’s coach of the year before Sunday’s Western Conference playoff game with Houston, then was left with an empty feeling after Houston eliminated his team.

Cooper, who succeeded the fired Orlando Woolridge after last season, received 37 votes in polling by WNBA media. Runner-up was Cleveland’s Dan Hughes with nine votes.

“This is really special,” Cooper said, “because they’ve only given this award out three times and Van [Chancellor] got all of them.”