“I’m not the coach for everybody”: When Dawn Staley set the record straight about rubbing her players the wrong way

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley is among the most successful coaches in college sports today. That said, Staley harbors no illusions that her coaching style is some sort of one-size-fits-all. In a 2022 appearance with Jemele Hill on "Unbothered," Staley opened up on her style.

"I'm probably not the coach for everybody.... If you can handle real truth and real conversations, you're not going to like it, but you respect it. The players tell me some of their friends are like, 'How can you play for her?' Because I'm going to tell it like it is. That's the only way I know." (7:43)

If Dawn Staley does practice tough love, she deals with an honesty that is honed by an incredibly high knowledge of basketball. She was a star point guard recruit who chose Virginia despite hailing from Philadelphia.

Staley took the Cavailers to three Final Fours in her four seasons, even reaching an NCAA title game, but failing to win a title. It wasn't a mistake she would repeat elsewhere in her career. Staley left Virginia as the school's all-time scoring and assist leader. Her number 24 has been retired by the Cavaliers.

Dawn Staley discussed not wanting to coach in the NBA or the WNBA

Dawn Staley played overseas and in lesser professional leagues until the WNBA became established. She entered that league in 1999 and became a six-time WNBA All-Star. While playing in the WNBA, Staley became the coach at Temple University.

She played in the WNBA until 2005 and coached at Temple until 2008, taking the Owls to six NCAA Tournament appearances in her eight seasons at the school. She then left to take the vacant South Carolina job and the rest, as they say, is history.

As one of the most famous and celebrated coaches in college basketball, Dawn Staley's name comes up for posts in the WNBA and also the NBA too. In the same podcast appearance, Staley discussed not wanting to make the transition into coaching in either league:

"I'm not really passionate about that. Like, I've never been, never wanted to jump even to the WNBA. There's something about college basketball, being able to be a dream merchant for young people.

"There's something about that that stays with me. I'm really not done with it yet, if I was done with it and I was searching for something else, but I'm gonna give you a story too.

"I did interview for the Portland Trailblazers job. It was a full-blown interview and I took notes because I wanted, if there's another female that wanted to go that route, I got the notes, I got what they asked, I got it, I do, I recorded it."

So until she is truly ready to move on, Dawn Staley can be expected to remain in South Carolina. Looking back. when she arrived at the Gamecocks, the women's basketball culture was less than impressive. The Gamecocks had never reached a Final Four and could boast just one Elite Eight and three Sweet 16 appearances in the history of the program.

Staley was aggressive and open, immediately upping the school's recruiting base to include higher talent. After a pair of losing seasons, Staley took the Gamecocks to the NCAA Sweet 16 in her fourth season at the school. By 2015, she took Carolina to the Final Four. In 2017, she won the school's first NCAA Tournament title.

Since then, Dawn Staley has added a pair of additional NCAA Tournament titles. Now in her 17th season at the school, Staley's total resume includes 464 wins, those three championships and six Final Four appearances. The 2024 team not only won the NCAA crown, but did so to culminate a perfect 38-0 season, making Carolina one of a small number of teams to have such a year.

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