“They are the ones that don’t get the spotlight at all”: When $12 million worth Dawn Staley appreciated South Carolina’s bench players

Dawn Staley talked about the lesser-known contributors to South Carolina's success in the January 2023 interview with Brett Ledbetter of "What Drives Winning." The coach highlighted the Gamecocks' extended 2021-22 roster of 16 players, shedding light on the efforts of the players who didn't receive as much playing time as others.

Staley, who has a net worth of $12 million (as per Celebrity Net Worth) said that since the male scout team could not travel for the NCAA tournament, the extra players in rotation overtook the role to prepare the team throughout their journey.

"We have a male practice squad that prepares us when we're at home but when we go to a place like the final four, we don't have them, we utilize the five players on our roster to get us ready," she said (at 7:18)

"I just constantly tell them how much we appreciate them for getting us ready and when we won the championship, one of my first interviews about this season - I shallowed them out individually because they're the ones that don't get the spotlight at all."

Despite having players like Aliyah Boston, Destanni Henderson, Zia Cooke and Brea Beal on the roster, Dawn Staley called out Gamecocks bench players individually after winning the 2022 NCAA title against UConn Huskies.

"I have to give a real good shout-out to the players who don’t get into the game a lot," she said.

"We have 16 players and a lot of them, probably seven or eight, who prepared us for UConn, prepared us for Louisville, prepared us for Creighton, never got to shine. So I’m going to give them a shine right now."

---

Dawn Staley reveals how she keeps players without playing time happy

Despite the ever-changing rosters in college basketball, teams often have players who do not get enough playing time as they would desire. While Dawn Staley sticks to her guns when it comes to apt rotations, she ensures that the extra players know their worth and are impacting the program's success in some way.

"I think young people want to be valued, all they want is to feel like they're making an impact and and usually it is directly related to playing time," she said (at 9:18).

"We had to flip the switch on them and have them really understand their value ... it's an unappreciated role that we made sure that we appreciate time and time again ... when you're valued, when you feel loved, you do your job and you do it to the best of your ability and you do it without complaint."

Dawn Staley has also altered her coaching approach to play less player-oriented basketball. Her 2022 NCAA championship-winning roster featured Aliyah Boston as the lead scorer in four out of the seven contests.

However, during her undefeated title run in 2024, the Gamecocks had four players headlining across the seven tourney games.