GREENVILLE, S.C. — Let’s get this out of the way. Dawn Staley, pride of North Philly, is a fairly transcendent figure right now, beyond her own sport, maybe beyond sports entirely.
Staley is not merely chasing a second straight NCAA title with her top-ranked, now 35-0 South Carolina Gamecocks. There is higher ground at stake here.
Saturday afternoon inside Bon Secours Wellness Center, UCLA caused all sorts of defensive disruption in the NCAA Sweet 16. The result? South Carolina 59, UCLA 43.
On the John Chaney scale? A real thing of beauty.
Afterward, UCLA coach Cori Close said South Carolina has to be one of the great defensive and rebounding teams of the last decade.
Virtually every day since Temple’s men’s head coaching job opened, emails or messages come in. Go after Dawn. Bring her back. She once coached Temple’s women, so the school should convince her to make more history by coaching Temple’s men.
Putting aside the fact that Temple can’t easily afford her — they’re going to outbid her current $3 million a year guaranteed through 2027-28, not including lucrative incentive bonuses? I said the same thing when Penn State fans brought her name up a couple of years ago — you’re actually belittling her current accomplishments by saying, “Hey, Dawn, maybe try coaching the guys?” Even a media figure or two who happen to cover men’s hoops have made this argument.
It’s simply not seeing the landscape as it is, or her importance within it.
When the late Pat Summitt turned down possible overtures to coach Tennessee’s men’s team, Summitt said, “I wouldn’t want people to think I looked at the men’s game as a step up.”
When Geno Auriemma had similar overtures to leave UConn, he stayed — his own wife once asked when he considered an overture: What are you missing?
Right now, which pair of current NCAA men’s coaches are higher-profile than Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma?
Yes, Staley talked to the Portland Trail Blazers last year when their job was open. She gets to decide what kind of history she wants to chase. (Someone quite familiar with her thinking said there’s nothing there with Temple.)
Maybe people don’t understand her stature because she works really hard not to big-time anyone. She knows her peers are watching, including many she’s never met. She knows her success opens doors for other women, and for Black coaches, men and women.
She knows because they tell her.
That success, unique: Winning Olympic gold as both a starting point guard and as USA head coach and now with South Carolina trying for its third overall NCAA title under Staley (the Gamecocks were top-ranked in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic washed out the NCAA tournament).
“I’m greedy,” Staley said two days after winning the 2017 NCAA title, the championship net around her neck. “I’m greedy when it comes to success. You have to approach it that way. If you just settle for what you’ve done in the past, that’s where the height in your career will be, in the past.”
You see Staley wear Eagles jerseys during South Carolina games, there’s a touch of whimsy to her choices. (But her Eagles fandom, serious business. Asked the other day about Tom Brady joining the WNBA Las Vegas Aces as a minority owner, Staley said, “I’ll cheer for him on that level. Other than that … it’s Go Eagles. Fly Eagles Fly.”)
Wearing a loosened-tie ensemble in homage to Chaney after he died, and wearing a replica of ex-Cheyney great Yolanda Laney’s Cheyney jersey last weekend, that’s a bigger deal, highlighting how Cheyney State under Vivian Stringer reached the Final Four.
“I’m pretty intentional about what I wear and who I wear it for,” Staley said about that specific jersey and how much thought she puts into game-day attire. Someone she knew in Philly had reached out to her and asked if she would like that old Cheyney jersey. “Yeah … that’s pretty cool,” Staley said, explaining that she had talked to Stringer on her birthday earlier this month. “So having spoken with her, having this person reach out to me, knowing what Yolanda has meant to youth development leagues in Philadelphia, it just made sense.”
She actually had a pair of pants that she didn’t have a match for – “OK, cool, this matches up pretty cool.”
“But there’s depth behind what I wear,” Staley said. “When it’s a jersey — not regular clothes, but when it’s a jersey — I’m honoring them.”
Talking to Villanova coach Denise Dillon just before the NCAA Tournament about mentors, she mentioned people in her immediate circle.
“And Dawn Staley,” Dillon said. “She’s my inspiration.”
Here’s a peer who has brought two different schools to multiple NCAA Tournaments. Dillon said she has closely followed Staley since her playing days. She remembers seeing Staley play in Narberth Summer League games, and at an outdoor league in Philly.
Now, she’s studying her as a coach.
“Just seeing how she had done it while being true to who she was,” Dillon said of Staley building Temple and South Carolina.
At the NCAA Tournament, Staley press conferences fill seats. The questions, as always, move around … “Wanted to ask about diversity, 12 of the 16 [Sweet 16] coaches are women … four of the 16 are Black, that’s the most in a decade.”
“I do think it’s a good trend,” Staley said, adding that “I’m not going to sit here and male bash …” But the trends are good, she said.
She was asked about the possibility of women’s basketball getting its own television rights deal … “It should happen,” Staley said. “We’re at that place where we’re in high demand. I do believe women’s basketball can stand on its own and be a huge revenue-producing sport.”
At South Carolina, they’re there. This season, her squad averaged 12,942 fans at home games. (If you don’t draw that much, how could you even afford her?) Notably, South Carolina road games averaged 6,651.
When dynasty talks come up, Staley tries to deflect.
“I don’t see us as a UConn or Tennessee,” Staley said Friday. “They are the traditionally rich powerhouses of our games. … We’re more of a blue-collar, nose-to-the-ground program that has found some success.”
Yes, she’s aware of her stature, and its responsibilities, beyond being a role model for coaches.
“There’s an opportunity for our game to grow,” Staley said. “I’m a Black coach, and I’ve got a majority, predominantly Black team, and for the viewers to tune into that, it means that we’re opening doors that were closed for a program like us.”
She’s good where she is, as the chase continues.
