USC Women’s Basketball: Women of Troy Compile Coaching Staff

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke matched her Trojan counterpart Andy Enfield, completing her coaching staff for the much-anticipated upcoming 2013-2014 season.

The Trojan alum added one of her own in assistant coach Juleah Woods, alongside associate head coach Brandy Manning. Cooper-Dyke also worked to retain some consistency in the program brining back second-year coach Evan Unrau, filling out the four-person staff.

“I’m just so excited to have this staff come together and get started,” Cooper-Dyke said. “We already have a fantastic group of student-athletes here at USC, and I can’t wait for this coaching staff and support staff to grow as a family in this program.”

Brandy Manning joins the Trojan staff after serving one season as an associate head coach and four seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Arizona. Manning had worked with the Arizona staff since 2008-09 helping the Wildcats reach the postseason for the first time since 2004-2005, playing in the Women’s NIT.

Winning came naturally for Manning, who posted improving win totals and taking the 12-win Wildcats to 21 victories by the end of her three-year stint in Tuscon. “Brandy is so well-rounded in his ability to coach Xs and Os and recruit. He is just phenomenal at teaching, motivating and recruiting, Cooper-Dyke said.

Highly regarded as a standout coach, scout and recruiter, he also served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for one season at Central Florida. Manning has been responsible for adding many stellar student-athletes to his programs.

While at Central Florida, he assembled a class largely responsible for driving the Knights to the 2009 and 2011 Conference USA championships. Manning was also instrumental in bringing in another talented crop of players, including 2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and the recent 16th pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, Davellyn Whyte.

The associate head coaching position is now filled, but Cooper-Dyke did not stop at that point, completing her entire staff by solidifying the final two assistant coaching positions with two highly-respected women on the west coast.

The final addition to the USC coaching staff has ties to Cardinal and Gold, as part of the Trojans reign of success in the 90’s. Juleah Woods played alongside Cynthia Cooper-Dyke in college, and that connection certainly helped her land a job for next season.

Jualeah Woods is a 1994 graduate from USC who played on the 1994 Pac-10 Championship,  alongside former-USC greats Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. In terms of coaching, Woods is coming off a year as the interim head coach at San Diego State following six years as the associate head coach under Beth Burns.

Woods also served as the universities recruiting coordinator building an Aztec program that won two Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament titles while also making three NCAA appearances during her tenure.

“Jualeah is just a great person. She’s been at San Diego State for years. I love her personality and her ability to recruit, especially on the West Coast,” Cooper-Dyke said. “She’s a really strong recruiter and I really feel like she’ll help make this staff great.”

The Trojans kept one similar name from last season, retaining Evan Unrau. “One of the things I really wanted was to bring in some strong recruiters and people who were really strong teachers of basketball, because I really like to teach basketball,” Cooper-Dyke said.

With the coaching staff complete, the Women of Troy can official begin planning for a 2013 campaign that will erase the debacle that was the 2012 effort.