They Buy 2-for-1 Deal

By Mike Terry

Sept. 21, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The very idea that a professional sports team could be successfully guided by two coaches equally sharing the responsibilities seemed a stretch at best.

But that didn’t stop the Sparks from defying conventional wisdom by splitting control of the team between Karleen Thompson and Ryan Weisenberg when Coach Michael Cooper resigned to take an assistant’s job with the NBA’s Denver Nuggets in July.

Cooper was the most successful head coach in the Sparks’ eight-year history, winning 139 games and two WNBA titles in four-plus seasons, and he had the Sparks off to a 14-6 start.

Who could have guessed that Thompson and Weisenberg would do even better?

Even without star forward DeLisha Milton-Jones, who sustained a season-ending knee injury just before Cooper left, the Sparks were 11-3 under Thompson and Weisenberg, finished with the league’s best overall record of 25-9 (which is one more win than last year), and are seeded No. 1 for the 2004 WNBA playoffs. The Sparks open at Sacramento on Friday.

“I think a lot of people don’t really know how much Karleen and Ryan really do,” Spark guard Tamecka Dixon said. “Coop got all the praise, and he was the head coach. But they were the behind-the-scenes people that worked around the clock to get things done. The team was comfortable. I was very confident that when Coop stepped down, they would be able to step up and do a great job. And they did that.”

With their promotion, Thompson and Weisenberg were given no guarantees as to how long they would be in charge. Spark management contacted several others -- former Lakers Magic Johnson and Kurt Rambis among them -- to gauge their interest, but never made a move.

But if that bothered either or both of them, Thompson and Weisenberg never said so publicly.

“You have to give them a lot of credit as coaches,” All-Star center Lisa Leslie said. “I think Karleen was being mentored by Cooper and, like a sponge, was able to absorb all the information that he had to provide about the game and understanding the players. Ryan has been around basketball for quite a bit of time, starting with the Lakers. He’s watched a lot of tape of other women’s teams in the WNBA and brings an understanding of the game.”

Thompson and Weisenberg credit their success to putting egos and career aspirations aside for the sake of trying to win a championship.

“I definitely had no doubt that it would work because Ryan and I were well prepared by Coop,” Thompson said. “He helped us; maybe he saw that he wasn’t going to be here, I don’t know. But he used to push us to the forefront all the time. So we were ready for this.”

Weisenberg said the groundwork for the co-coaching assignment began last season.

“About midway through last year Coop had a lot of pain from a hernia. So Kar and I stepped up and took over practices,” he said. “Things like that, that really helped us work together.

“Coming into this season there was uncertainty of what Cooper was going to do. So we sat down before the season and said, ‘Look, with scouting reports you do this part and I do this part. We’ll come together, talk about it and everything’s good.’ I know Coop didn’t want that; he wanted separate reports. But we felt we were stronger together. No one’s contradicting each other, and the players aren’t getting different messages.”

The coaches reached this point from different paths. Thompson was a college teammate of Leslie at USC in 1993 and 1994. She worked for Gatorade in sports marketing and sales before joining the Sparks in 1997 as a manager, but worked her way onto the coaching staff and became an assistant in 2002.

Weisenberg, who has coached boys’ basketball at South Pasadena High, has been with the Lakers’ and Sparks’ organizations for five years, starting as a video coordinator and scout. He also became a Spark assistant in 2002.

The players say Weisenberg maps out the strategies, and Thompson provides the motivation. But the coaches say the Xs and O’s work is evenly divided and that Thompson often makes the final decision on what is presented to the team.

“We go over the scouting reports, the things we’ve done, and put them all together,” Thompson said.

“We both know each other’s half, so we’re on the same page. There is no clashing. We can’t. Once we’re in the huddle we have to know what we’re talking about. That’s what the players are looking for. They don’t want you stuttering or second-guessing yourself.”

If their partnership is a bit unconventional, the results are respected.

“They obviously have a good working relationship,” Minnesota Coach Suzie McConnell Serio said. “And Michael Cooper obviously did a great job in teaching them how to have success with the players they have.

“I’m an outsider, but just watching on film and on TV it looks like the players have a great deal of respect for them as coaches. And that is saying a lot.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

WNBA Playoffs

All times Pacific; best-of-three series; x-if necessary

EASTERN CONFERENCE

CONNECTICUT VS. WASHINGTON

Saturday at Washington...9 a.m.

Monday at Connecticut...4 p.m.

Sept. 29 at Connecticut...TBD-x

NEW YORK VS. DETROIT

Friday at Detroit...5 p.m.

Sunday at New York...9 a.m.

Sept. 28 at New York...5 p.m.-x