As a second consecutive record year for women’s college basketball reached another landmark conclusion this weekend, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley displayed to hardcore fans and casual viewers alike why she is one of sports preeminent ambassadors — and it wasn't solely because of what her players accomplished on the court, but how she acted off of it.
The day before her South Carolina team won the NCAA National Championship over Iowa, led by sensation Caitlin Clark, the 53-year-old Coach Staley received her normal set of game-related questions during the final press conferences in Cleveland. Then a little-known reporter named Dan Zaksheske from the Fox News’ sports website Outkick decided it was necessary to not “stick to sports” — something Outkick begs of athletes to do only when they agree with those athletes — and asked Staley her opinion on transgender athletes in women’s collegiate sport, using the deliberately offensive “biological males in women’s sport” framing before finally quieting down to allow Staley to respond.
