"I was afraid": When South Carolina HC Dawn Staley admitted her feelings about becoming a coach at a young age

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley discussed how she came to embrace coaching after initially being hesitant to take on the role. Staley sat down with ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath for an interview in August last year after leading the Gamecocks to their third national championship.

McGrath pointed out that Staley had previously said that she was more interested in playing basketball rather than coaching it. She asked what changed her mind.

"I didn't want to coach because I looked at the responsibility of a coach," Staley said (5:20 onwards). "It's a lot, and I was closer to my players' ages than their parents', so I was a afraid of that responsibility."

Dawn Staley cited the fact that the athletic director of Temple University at the time, Dave O'Brien, challenged her to take over their women's basketball program and "turn it around."

"When [Dave] did, that was the very thing that I needed to accept that challenge," she added. "Now, as I look back on it 24 years ago, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Coaching is my second skin ... and fortunately for me, basketball continues to love up on me as strongly as I love it."

Staley's first head coaching position was at Temple University, where she coached for eight seasons from 2000 to 2008 before taking the job at South Carolina, where she became the highest-paid coach in women's college basketball.

According to Front Office Sports, Staley makes $4 million per year, putting her above LSU's Kim Mulkey and UConn's Geno Auriemma.

Dawn Staley jokes about SEC tiebreaker system through coin flip

Going to the final game of the regular season on Sunday, No. 6 South Carolina and No. 1 Texas are tied atop the Southeastern Conference standings with 14-1 records. This sets up a potential coin-flip scenario to decide the No. 1 seed for the SEC Tournament.

Speaking with the media on Friday ahead of their matchup against No. 15 Kentucky, Dawn Staley joked about this outcome.

"Imagine if it was football. Is a coin flip — not for who gets the ball first, but who gets the first seeding in the national championship? Imagine," Staley said (at 4:44).

"It's unfortunate it's coming down to that. Hopefully, we can take care of it ... we're going to call up to the coin guys to see if they can, and we take care of business that it flips over on the game outside."

Since the Gamecocks and Longhorns split their head-to-head matchups, the SEC tiebreaker rules call for a coin flip. However, if they finish tied in the final league standings, both will be awarded the regular season championship.