
The 48-year-old is a native of Fremont, Ohio who spent a decade as an assistant coach at Kansas and more than a decade as an assistant for the four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets. He also spent a summer as head coach of the Nigerian women's national team. They came in 2nd in the All-Africa Games.
But Cook has more to deal with than his team's opponents. He is battling Parkinson's disease, so his hands shake and his signs are often stuttered. But the team is supportive. They overwhelmed him with text messages when he attended the Ohio funeral of his sister, who died unexpectedly in a house fire. Cook told reporters the team reached out to him and “they'll never know how much that meant to me."