Cynthia Cooper

Cooper retired as a WNBA player at the end of the 1999-2000 season, after the Comets won their fourth straight championship. Midway through the 2001-02 season, Cooper became the head coach of another WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, but she retired from that job only ten games into her second season there in order to spend more time with her growing family: Cooper's twin children were born June 14, 2002.

Shortly after retiring as coach of the Phoenix Mercury in June, 2002, Cooper was tapped by the administration of President George W. Bush to co-chair a fifteen-member panel that studied the impact of Title IX, the federal law which mandated gender equity in federally-funded education activities, including college sports. Cooper and her husband, Brian Dykes (a sports agent), live in Sugar Land, Texas, where they are raising their twins, Brian Jr. and Cyan, as well as Tyquon, Anthony, and Tyrone, the sons of one of Cooper's sisters whom Cooper has adopted.

The WNBA and the success of female basketball players such as Cooper have inspired thousands of girls to follow their dreams of making a living as a professional athlete. Even though Cooper is no longer competing, her incredible feats during the four years she played in the WNBA contributed greatly to the success of the fledgling league. By the time Cooper retired as a player, the WNBA had expanded from its original eight teams to sixteen, giving 176 women the opportunity to play professional basketball in the United States and millions more the ability to cheer for these dedicated female athletes.