Gallaudet is riding its longest winning streak in 11 seasons thanks to Kevin Cook who became the coach of the Bison in 2007. The team is 7-3 so far this season (3-1 in the conference) with five wins in a row. Before Cook's arrival, the team had only won 17 of the last 136 games.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."
