"Merriest Christmas to you all": Dawn Staley tells fans to be "loving, caring, and nonjudging" this holiday season

Dawn Staley sent her Christmas greetings to fans via X on Wednesday. The South Carolina coach is on her official winter break from college basketball as the staff and players are home for the holidays.

"Merriest Christmas to you all," she wrote. "As we open our gifts, let’s not forget the gift of being a loving, caring and nonjudging human being. Let’s keep spreading it….or let’s start spreading it! Blessings to you all!"

Dawn Staley and South Carolina are attempting to defend the 2024 national championship win and go for their first back-to-back this season. The Gamecocks played their last game before the break against the Charleston Southern, which they won 82-46 and brought their overall record to 11-1

In the post-game chat with the media, Dawn Staley shared her Christmas wish list, saying (via On3):

“When I leave this arena, I have nothing to do – like, nothing. Like, I got 24 miles to empty in my vehicle. I need to go to the gas station, pump gas and do nothing. I actually gotta shop there too, so, I won’t be able to do that until Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday because I got to go recruiting tomorrow. Yay me!”

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Dawn Staley continues to champion for women’s basketball

With college women's basketball growing leaps and bounds in the last two years, Dawn Staley has been at the forefront of speaking out for equal attention for all programs and players. In a YouTube premiere of her interview with Virginia Sports TV for the docu-series, Our Place, Staley spoke about her involvement in growing the game.

"For women’s basketball, I’ve seen where we’ve come from. But now, we’re at a place where we are valued a little bit differently. We’re in high demand," Staley said.

"We’ve grown to the point of talking about the current happenings of our game... If you’re not willing to speak up on the disparities, we’re not going to advance our game."

With her wide influence on the college sports scene and outside of it, Dawn Staley plans to use it for the betterment of everyone.

"I speak up for the voiceless. I speak up for not just the present but also the future," Staley said. "It’s our job to make sure that we’re not sitting here 10 years from now in the same place. I still sit here restless and wanting to do more, but the future is incredibly bright."

One of her recent steps in this direction is the investment in Unrivaled, a women's professional basketball league.