Besides being one of the most successful women’s college basketball coaches of all time, Dawn Staley is also a strong personality who doesn’t hesitate to stand her ground when she feels something is wrong.
The three-time NCAA champion has won 647 of the 837 games she’s coached in her 25-year career, while making two different programs, Temple and South Carolina, relevant in a highly competitive Division I.
Staley’s teams play hard all game long, but this blueprint has raised some eyebrows around the competition. The six-time WNBA All-Star has never hesitated to defend her players from accusations of being overly physical, blaming the media for trying to portray them in a certain light.
Dawn Staley is tired of people criticizing her players’ physicality
During an appearance on CBS Mornings to promote her new memoir, “Uncommon Favor,” Staley criticized the media for trying to perpetuate a negative narrative about black athletes.
Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks
“When anybody’s upset or anybody disagrees with anything that you believe in, you can stick to the facts,” Staley said. “There are gonna be some emotions about what’s taking place. Once you get over the emotional part of it, and you turn it over to the facts, the facts are the facts, and they will speak to whatever it is that, no matter what you disagree with or agree with, the facts remain the same.”
“It’s important to have those conversations because they aren’t being had,” she said. “I’ve been very blessed by pay equity, not blessed, in that I fought for it. It’s not going to just come to you. You actually have to approach them with what you think you’re worth is. Knowing your worth.”
The Gamecocks are one of the top teams in women’s college basketball and Staley has developed multiple WNBA stars over the years.
