Los Angeles, CA -- (Sports Network) - Michael Cooper will leave his post as head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks after the upcoming season to take over as Southern California women's head basketball coach.

The former Los Angeles Lakers great replaces Mark Trakh, who resigned last month after guiding the USC women's program for five seasons. Trakh's teams went 90-64 in his time (2005-09) at USC, with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.

"I'm very honored to have this opportunity to coach at a great university with such a rich tradition in women's basketball," said Cooper. "My philosophy has always been about winning championships, and at USC we want to do that as well as graduate our players and make sure they enjoy their basketball experience. I'm looking forward to working in a collegiate atmosphere and all that comes with it."

The 53-year-old Cooper has spent seven seasons as the head coach of the Sparks and during that time has compiled a 160-72 regular-season record, plus 23-13 in the playoffs. He has won five Western Conference titles and engineered the Sparks into the WNBA playoffs six times, winning the league title in 2001 and 2002. He was the 2000 WNBA Coach of the Year in his debut season.