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Michael Cooper II

Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Second season

Michael Cooper II enters his second season on the USC coaching staff after multiple years at the professional level and as the founder of a national youth-education company. Cooper II comes to USC from Excel Educational Enterprises, where he coordinated tutoring and youth-enrichment programming in New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona and Pennsylvania. He started his own company, Coop's Life Skills Enrichment Program, in 2007, which partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, juvenile detention centers and Parks and Recreation departments across the country.

At the pro level, he worked for the basketball operations and marketing side of the Los Angeles Sparks from 2000-02 and was promoted to scout in 2003. He was later named general manager of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, helping lead the team to a national championship in his first season and choosing current Houston Rockets forward Chuck Hayes with a first-round pick in the Developmental League draft. As a player, Cooper II was named the 1999 AP Player of the Year in the state of New Mexico as an athlete at La Cueva High School, averaging 20.1 points, 5.2 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game.