{"id":258456,"date":"2026-04-09T00:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258456\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T00:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:11:10","slug":"lakers-great-michael-cooper-introduced-as-cal-state-l-a-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258456\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers great Michael Cooper introduced as Cal State L.A. coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Cooper\u2019s<\/a> return to Cal State Los Angeles is more than just another coaching stop \u2014 it\u2019s a homecoming.<\/p>\n

The Lakers legend<\/a> was introduced Wednesday as the program\u2019s 14th men\u2019s basketball head coach, bringing with him decades of experience and a clear vision: return the Golden Eagles to championship form.<\/p>\n

The goal for Cooper is to reestablish what the men\u2019s basketball program achieved two years ago, winning a championship.<\/p>\n

Cooper believes that building a championship team starts with what he calls the five Ds: determination, dedication, desire, discipline and decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve incorporated those principles into my coaching philosophy, and they will be covered in what we do here at Cal State L.A. We\u2019re going to develop a culture rooted in discipline, defense and teamwork,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

The job carries personal meaning for Cooper. Cal State L.A. holds a special place in his life, as he competed at the university during the NBA Summer Pro League in 1977-78.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is home to me, so that\u2019s a no-brainer. When I got the chance under Coach [Jim] Saia to come in and volunteer, I got a chance to know a lot of the student athletes here, and being around these young people can reinvigorate you and get you energized to come out and get up every morning, and that is what I love about this. That\u2019s why I love this sport,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

Saia retired after 10 seasons, opening the door for Cooper to take on a new role. He said the identity he is looking to build on and off the court starts with hard work.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers great Michael Cooper speaks during his introductory news conference Wednesday after being named Cal State L.A. men\u2019s basketball coach.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think hard working young men, I think the five Ds that I described, those can apply to you in anything you do in your athletic endeavors, but the uniqueness and the fun apart about those five Ds can put those to work for you [athletes] off the court in your everyday life, in your religious life anything that you wanna be successful in you have to apply that so those are some of the principles that will build our foundation of our team with but also a foundation they can stay strong in, in the community,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

Former Lakers forward A.C. Green<\/a>, who played alongside Cooper during the Showtime Era, spoke about his former teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be a minor Pat Riley. He\u2019s going to be a fun-loving, hard-nose coach, and it seems like it would be an oxymoron, but it is possible and he\u2019s going to show that,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s vision for success for the men\u2019s basketball team includes strong conditioning, hard work and defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to play hard, they\u2019re going to play smart, and they\u2019re going to play together. When you do those three things, you\u2019ll win championships,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

Green emphasized that Cooper\u2019s success will translate to the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a winner. Everywhere he goes and every place he stops, he wins,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s contagious. People love being around him and people love playing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Cooper, the connection between the program, the city and his legacy remains clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers are L.A., Michael Cooper is L.A. and we are L.A.,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Cooper\u2019s return to Cal State Los Angeles is more than just another coaching stop \u2014 it\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[114114,114115,10658,114117,114116,320,114118,11155,30711,48,52,51,47,50,49,114113,4576,114119,54417,4424,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-258456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-14th-man","9":"tag-a-c-green","10":"tag-basketball-coach","11":"tag-cal-state-l-a-coach","12":"tag-championship-form","13":"tag-chance","14":"tag-clear-vision","15":"tag-defense","16":"tag-discipline","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-la-headlines","19":"tag-la-news","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","22":"tag-los-angeles-news","23":"tag-michael-cooper","24":"tag-program","25":"tag-saia","26":"tag-special-place","27":"tag-success","28":"tag-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}