Coaches

There's this coach. He plies his trade in the shadow of downtown L.A. He's got a different kind of philosophy, he's a different kind of cat. Yes, he gets results, big time. But it's more than that. He says playing basketball is about honoring the game, about calmness amid storms, about being a stand-up human being and treating your teammates like you are all one and the same. Phil Jackson? Not quite.

Halfway through the Mexican national team's morning workout Saturday, a man slowly wheeled a cart full of baseballs toward the middle of the infield. Not every team has the luxury of using a 17-year major league veteran and Cy Young Award winner to keep its batting practice pitcher supplied with balls. But in this case, Fernando Valenzuela was only too eager to oblige. "Whatever they need," Valenzuela said. "I'm real, real happy to be part of this."

On Sunday afternoon, Cal State Northridge men's basketball Coach Bobby Braswell cheered with his players when the Matadors' NCAA tournament date with Memphis was announced on television as a CBS camera filmed their celebration.

It has been an interesting week for coaches, what with Diego Armando Maradona being, in his own words, "stabbed in the heart" by Argentina's astonishing 6-1 loss to Bolivia and Sven-Goran Eriksson being, so to speak, stabbed in the back by Mexico after its predictable 3-1 loss to Honduras. Then there is Inter Milan's Jose Mourinho, the world's highest-paid soccer coach -- unless you divide the number of words he speaks into the number of dollars he earns. In that case, he might be underpaid.

Sparks Coach Michael Cooper is having discussions with USC about becoming the Trojans' women's basketball coach, Sparks co-owner Carla Christofferson confirmed today. "From our perspective, he's under contract to coach our season," Christofferson said. "We've confirmed with him he's coaching our 2009 season." The WNBA regular season runs from June through mid-September. USC's regular season starts in mid-November.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson has given a variety of answers as to whether he will return next season, though the latest indication is that he'll be back. And indications are that Kobe Bryant will be too. "I always go through the process of having to reassess the season in the summertime," he said. "I have a contract, and I mean to fulfill it. If I abrogated it and said no, I would be shocked at myself." Jackson, 63, has a one-year option for about $12 million next season.

It is the ultimate fantasy league, made up of the 10 richest and most successful soccer clubs in history. Money is no object, or at least not much of one. The world's finest players gravitate to these clubs in a seemingly endless flow. All of which leaves the poor wretch in charge of the team dangling from a noose as soon as he sets pen to paper and signs his contract as coach. Think you could take Arsenal or Chelsea to the European Champions League title? Think again. No one has done it yet.

As Saturday wore on, the update the Lakers were given about longtime team consultant Tex Winter, who suffered an apparent stroke this weekend, was that he was resting in a hospital in Manhattan, Kan., and that the next 24 to 72 hours were critical in his recovery. Winter, 87, briefly left the Lakers to go to Kansas State, where he coached the men's basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1958. He was there for a reunion.

Sparks Coach Michael Cooper will leave the team at the end of this season to take over USC's women's basketball team, the school announced Friday, bringing to an end weeks of speculation. "It's something I couldn't pass up," Cooper said. "But my focus, heart and energy is helping the Sparks win another championship." Cooper, 53, the former Lakers standout, won WNBA titles with the Sparks in 2001 and 2002.

Tim Floyd worked the room. USC's basketball coach smiled and laughed with Trojans boosters, listened intently when circumstances called for it, and posed for a few photos. What he didn't do was talk about the main issues confronting his program. Floyd appeared Wednesday night along with football Coach Pete Carroll at the Irvine Hyatt Regency, the first stop on a meet-and-greet tour with Trojans supporters across the state over the next couple of weeks.