"She'll be great": Rece Davis honors Dawn Staley while expressing excitement for her College GameDay guest spot

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley will be a guest on ESPN's "College GameDay" when the Gamecocks play against the No. 16 LSU Tigers. Staley has had a busy summer, traveling to Paris with Team USA in July and also visiting the White House to celebrate last season's NCAA championship.

As she took the honor on Saturday, journalist and sports commentator, Rece Davis, was asked for his thoughts on Staley's presence on the GameDay set. While sharing his excitement, Davis also recounted his memory of recommending coach Staley for Alabama's coaching position.

"Well, I'm very excited," Davis said. "I try to remain neutral all the time. I'm not sure if Dawn remembers this, (but) years ago when she was in Temple, still coaching Temple and playing, the late Mal Moore, who hired Nick (Saban) at Alabama, calls me up.

"I was covering women's championship at the time. And he said, 'I don't know a lot of coaches in women's game. Who should I look at?' I said, 'You should try to hire Dawn Staley.'"

Davis revealed that while Moore tried hard to hire Dawn Staley for the job, there were too many factors that paused the conversation and one of them was her wanting to coach and play in the WNBA for a while.

"The SEC didn't feel like that was right or other factors too. But I've been an admirer of hers as a coach and as a player for a very long time, so we're really excited to have her out there. She'll be great," Davis said.

President Joe Biden praises Dawn Staley's dedication and work ethic

Dawn Staley's visit to the White House was one for the history books. This was her first time in Washington, despite winning the title twice before. The previous visits fell through due to scheduling conflicts.

Coach Staley and her team were honored by the president, and they even presented him with a jersey. Biden later took to his X and praised the coach.

"When Coach Staley took this job, Carolyn Peck gave her a piece of net from her title game and asked Coach to pay it forward," he wrote. "So after her first title, she sent a piece of her own net to every Black woman head coach in Division I women’s basketball. That's one hell of a legacy."

With the summer drawing close, Coach Staley and her team are preparing hard for their campaign next season as they try to defend the title.