When $12 million worth Dawn Staley quoted basketball coaching legend Bob Knight: “It took me a while to really understand that”

The South Carolina Gamecocks, coached by Dawn Staley, aim for a national championship repeat in the 2024-2025 season. They want to emulate their 2024 success after winning the 2025 SEC tournament title - their third successive triumph - by defeating the second-seeded Texas Longhorns 64-45.

A lot of South Carolina's success can be attributed to their mental strength, which Staley discussed in an episode of Michael Gervais's "Finding Mastery" podcast in August 2021. Using a quote by legendary college basketball coach Bob Knight, the 54-year-old expressed how she values mental fortitude over physical traits.

"I think it's a Bobby Knight quote, and I believe Bobby Knight said, 'Mental is the physical as four is to one.' It took me a while to really understand that if just as an adult, it took me to understand that because for so long, growing up, I was better physically and skill-wise, I was better than everybody else," Staley explained. (29:04)

"But, when it was time for me to try out for the 1992 Olympic team, and some other more experienced players had something that I didn't have and I get cut, that's when you start realizing, it's more than just the physical part of it. You get cut, you can't be physical anymore, it's mental. It's mental to get over not being able to do something you work so hard for," she concluded.

That mental strength Dawn Staley, whose net worth is $12 million per Celebrity Net Worth, instills in her players can be seen in how much of a powerhouse program the Gamecocks has become. They have amassed nine of the last 11 SEC tournament championships.

---

Dawn Staley shares that most of the Gamecocks' mental training are their own

Later in the interview, Michael Gervais asked Dawn Staley about how she implements mental training into her program, given that the discussion was about how important mental strength is as opposed to physical strength. The tenured tactician assured that almost all of what they do mentally boils down to their own strategic development and that they don't usually source it elsewhere.

"I don't, in that regard. I do in team building, life skills. I do believe that you have to have different voices because your players can tire of your voice. That's probably why I don't talk a whole lot. I'm not a talking coach, I talk when I feel like what I say will penetrate our players," Staley shared. (31:00)

Following the 2025 SEC tournament, the South Carolina Gamecocks's postseason run continues with the national tournament later this month. They aim to bring back the national title for the third time in the last four campaigns.