Cophie Anderson enters her second season as head coach of the ORU women's basketball program in 2026-27. She was named the 12th head coach in program history on March 31, 2025, after three seasons as the Golden Eagles' associate head coach. In her inaugural season, Anderson led ORU to a 15-15 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Summit League at 8-8, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Summit League Championship.
Four Golden Eagles earned five All-League honors in 2025-26. Jalei Oglesby was named All-Summit League Second Team, Ari Gordon earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team, Kayten Donley was tabbed to the All-Freshman Team, and Anna Trusty was named to the All-Newcomer Team while also receiving honorable mention recognition. Oglesby added selections to the Academic All-League Team and the CSC Academic All-District Team.
Anderson's first team built its identity on pressure. Oral Roberts led the Summit League with 9.7 steals per game and forced 18.9 turnovers a night, finishing at plus-3.7 in turnover margin and converting takeaways into 19.7 points per game — more than three points better than its opponents. The Golden Eagles averaged 76.2 points per game to rank 31st nationally in scoring offense, shot 34.6 percent from three to their opponents' 32.7, and led the league in bench scoring at 20.4 points per game.
The 2025-26 slate featured nonconference wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Idaho, Idaho State and North Texas, along with Summit League victories over North Dakota and Kansas City twice apiece, plus South Dakota, Omaha, Denver and St. Thomas.
Anderson joined the ORU staff prior to the 2022-23 season and helped the program grow in each of her three years as associate head coach, with the Golden Eagles winning 12 games in her first season, 21 in her second and 24 in 2024-25 — the highest win total in program history since 1983. That squad finished 24-9 and earned a WBIT selection, marking consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 2010-12, and knocked off SEC foes Arkansas and Missouri along the way. Across her three seasons on staff, ORU ranked among the top 20 nationally in scoring offense each year and cracked the top 10 in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
During the 2023-24 season, Anderson helped guide ORU to its first 20-win season since 2011-12 and its first postseason appearance since 2015. Five Golden Eagles she helped recruit earned Summit League postseason awards that year, including
Freshman of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Sixth Woman of the Year, and both First Team and Second Team selections.
Before coming to ORU, Anderson spent 13 seasons at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), beginning her coaching career there in 2009. She was pivotal in a turnaround that produced seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths — including the 2020 tournament which was canceled — along with two Great American Conference Tournament championships and four GAC regular season championships.
The Lady Bulldogs' best season came in 2018-19, when SWOSU rattled off a 35-game win streak en route to the NCAA Division II National Championship game and a runner-up finish. The Lady Dawgs won their second straight GAC regular season championship, becoming the first team in conference history to do so with an undefeated record, before winning the GAC Tournament and Central Region championship. SWOSU then advanced to the Elite Eight and National Championship game for the first and only time in the program's history as an NCAA institution.
While at SWOSU, Anderson coached five NCAA Division II All-Americans, including current ORU assistant coach Hayden Priddy. She also mentored four players who combined to win six GAC Player of the Year awards, including two-time recipients Hailey Tucker (2017-18) and former ORU standout Makyra Tramble (2021-22). Priddy also won the GAC Player of the Year award in 2019, while Tramble was named the Division II National Player of the Year in 2022.
Anderson coached 27 players who earned all-conference recognition. Over one nine-season stretch, SWOSU finished top 10 nationally in scoring offense seven times and averaged better than 80 points per game five times.
As a player, Anderson was a guard/forward at Fresno State from 2001-05. She earned Western Athletic Conference All-Academic honors three times and was recognized multiple times as one of the school's top scholar-athletes. She was a member of two Bulldog teams that advanced to the Women's National Invitational Tournament, in 2002 and 2005, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology. Anderson later earned a master's degree in sports management from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
A native of Arlington, Texas, Anderson (formerly Moore) is married to Wayne Anderson. The couple has three children: Cameron, Carringtyn and Creed.
