How many national championships has Dawn Staley won? Taking a look at the South Carolina HC's coaching career

South Carolina Gamecocks WBB head coach Dawn Staley is becoming one of the best in the business, and her recent national championship win over Iowa is a clear indication of this. Since stepping into Columbia in 2008, she has turned the program into a perennial power in women`s college basketball.

That said, here`s a quick look at Staley's illustrious coaching career at the helm of South Carolina.

How many national championships has Dawn Staley won?

So far, Dawn Staley has won three national titles as a head coach, all with South Carolina. She won her first in 2017, then in 2022, and most recently, this year, capping off a spotless 38-0 season. All three championship runs were marked by incredible regular-season performances.

In 2017, Staley`s squad went 33-4 overall. In 2022, they were 35-2. However, this season, as previously mentioned, they were 38-0 with almost no other team challenging them; not even the mighty Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes. The only teams to come within single digits of them were Indiana, NC State, North Carolina, Utah, LSU, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.

Most notably, Tennessee came close to beating them twice. They had a 74-73 win over the Lady Vols in the SEC Tournament semis, which was characterized by one of the absolute worst lapses on defense that one will likely ever see in the history of basketball.

Tennessee had the ball and a two-point lead, 73-71, with just 3.7 seconds left to play. But as everyone now knows, the Vols bungled it at the line and the ensuing defensive play, leaving Gamecocks star Kamilla Cardoso wide open for a game-winning three at the buzzer.

---

Looking back at Dawn Staley`s three championship wins

Heading into the 2017 season, Dawn Staley led South Carolina to the Sweet 16 the previous year, only to be beaten by 4-seed Syracuse. So they came back with a vengeance and had an excellent regular season behind star A`ja Wilson. In the title game, they faced the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who were also first-timers in the finals. But the better team won, and the rest was history.

Next up, 2022 saw the Gamecocks bounce back again after falling to Stanford in the Final Four in 2021. They faced Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies in the championship and beat them 64-49 to win their second.

Now, Dawn Staley`s team has won yet again after analysts predicted before the season that South Carolina will be going through a rebuild. The school`s 129-9 "Freshies" class was no more as they headed into the preseason (via Yahoo Sports), meaning the Gamecocks were in for a complete retooling of their roster.

The team buckled down and never wavered under Staley. They hit the ground running, so fast that no one was able to stop them, and the rest, as they say, is history.