The South Carolina Gamecocks are national champions for the second time in five years and it just adds to the wildly successful last eight months of Dawn Staley’s coaching career.
Let’s rewind.
Look no further to just a few days ago (Wednesday), when Staley was named the 2022 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year for coaching the Gamecocks to a Final Four appearance after remaining the nation’s No. 1 ranked team throughout the entirety of the season. Staley won the same award back in 2020 when South Carolina’s 32-1 season and pursuit of a national championship was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Take it back a few months earlier to October when Staley earned a historic seven-year $22.4 million contract extension from the university.
And of course, Staley coached the USA Women’s Basketball National Team, which included Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Although, Bird and Taurasi probably had mixed emotions watching Staley win the natty for the Gamecocks while their beloved Huskies came up short.
Nevertheless, Dawn Staley keeps on winning and doing things that most coaches could only dream of. What an epic run this has been.
