"I've never been driven by money at all": Dawn Staley's humble response after signing historic South Carolina contract extension 

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley made headlines on Friday after she signed a newly minted contract extension with the program. The deal will run until the 2029-2030 season, where Staley will earn $4 million annually along with a $500,000 signing bonus which brings the total value of the contract to $25.25 million, per ESPN.

This effectively makes the 54-year-old the highest-paid coach in all of women's basketball. The opportunity to earn this much amount can be attributed to Staley's rightfully-earned success with the program — winning three national championships since she's been at the helm from 2008 which includes last year's undefeated campaign.

But even with the amount of money Staley is projected to earn, she said during a pregame interview ahead of their conference matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners that her salary is not the driving force that fuels her to lead the Gamecocks.

"I've never been driven by money at all," Staley said. "Money is the byproduct of your success and your ability to work hard and be successful in your space. I do think it represents what can be in other professions that women, for whatever reason, are not paid for doing the same type of work [and] job."

"I think this is an example of what it can look, feel [and] sound like. I hope everybody's happy about it for what it represents cause it's only the right thing to do. If you're not willing to do the right thing, then your standards are off. You're off when you can't see the same type of work [and] success that deserves the pay raises," she added.

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With a new contract signed, Staley could be extra motivated to bring the Gamecocks back to the NCAA women's basketball mountaintop with a repeat national title. On the 2024-2025 season, they are 17-1 overall thus far and hold a commanding 7-0 SEC record.

Dawn Staley honored to be named in FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2025

It has certainly been a milestone-filled week for Dawn Staley as besides her new contract with South Carolina, she was also named as an inductee into the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2025 earlier this week. The 17-year Gamecocks tactician said it was another huge honor in her career.

"My entire career has been a really uncommon type of faithful. Everything that I've gotten, certainly, I pay tribute to the Man above for just pouring out the blessings," Staley said. "Sometimes, they come in more ways than one but this just so happened to be around the same time of the pay raise."

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The Gamecocks will take to their home court once again on Sunday against the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners as they vie to stay unbeaten in conference play, banking on the positive morale of their head coach to keep their winning streak going.