When Aliyah Boston's mom and dad knew Dawn Staley was the right coach for her in college: "Most ecstatic over anybody in the whole world"

Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston made a name for herself while playing under South Carolina coach Dawn Staley between 2019 and 2023. Boston's commitment was hotly contested as the No. 3 prospect in the Class of 2019, according to ESPN.

The five-star prospect narrowed down her recruiting options to a four-team shortlist of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Staley's Gamecocks and Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies.

During a 2022 interview with The Athletic, Cleone Boston, the forward's mother, revealed how she and her husband, Al Boston, knew their daughter had picked the right coach to play for.

“She just seemed to be able to be herself so much with Dawn,” Cleone said. “My husband was probably most ecstatic over everybody in the whole world because he loved Coach Staley. He thought, and this was before Aliyah signed, that this was the coach for her.”

Dawn Staley feared Aliyah Boston's rejection

Aliyah Boston's commitment to the South Carolina Gamecocks and Dawn Staley was not cut and dried. She had built up relationships with the coaching staffs of all four schools on her shortlist.

In the same The Athletic interview, Cleone Boston revealed that when her daughter called Dawn Staley in 2018 to tell her about her commitment to South Carolina, she was crying after having to reject the other schools on her shortlist.

The charismatic Gamecocks coach mistook the tears for rejection from the talented forward until her mother corrected the miscommunication.

“Dawn could hear the tears, and she’s on speaker and said, ‘Aliyah, it’s OK. It’s OK, Aliyah,’” Cleone said. “I remember those exact words. I touched Aliyah, and I said, ‘She thinks you’re not coming.’”

The South Carolina coach also gave her unique perspective on the moment when Aliyah Boston called her while crying.

“Usually when they’re crying, it’s just like, ‘OK. Just get it out,'” Dawn Staley said. “‘Just say it and let me cry on the inside.'

“She was just like, ‘I just want to tell you that I picked a school. And I chose the University of South Carolina.’ I mean, she says the whole (university’s) name. I’m like, ‘What? Like, seriously.’ And she was crying, and her mother actually had to take over.”

Dawn Staley and Aliyah Boston had a fruitful partnership for the Gamecocks, winning the national championship in 2022 and falling just short of a second one when South Carolina lost to Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four in 2023.

After her stellar college basketball career in Columbia under Staley, during which she won the Naismith National Player of the Year, Boston was picked No. 1 by the Indiana Fever in the 2023 WNBA draft.