Jere' has been busy! Prairie View’s Coach Gives Hope to a Heavy Underdog

Now in her fourth season at Prairie View, located 40 miles northwest of Houston, Cooper-Dyke has endured a highly publicized slate of N.C.A.A. rules violations, along with the financial and recruiting struggles that historically black colleges like Prairie View face in remaining competitive in big-time athletics.

But she has also brought success to an athletic department best known for a football team that lost 80 consecutive games in the 1990s — an N.C.A.A. record for futility. The women’s basketball team had not had a winning season until Cooper-Dyke arrived. Now the university has a team that Prairie View’s renowned marching band can be proud of, even if Oklahoma was too strong in Sunday’s 76-47 victory.