Dawn Michelle Staley (born May 4, 1970) Widely considered to be one of the greatest players and coaches in the history of the sport, she is the only person to win the Naismith Award as both a player and a coach.
During her college career with Virginia from 1988 to 1992, Staley set the NCAA record for steals, the school record for points, and the ACC record for assists. She played professionally in the American Basketball League (ABL) during its three years of operation before being selected ninth overall by the Sting in the 1999 WNBA draft. As a member of the Sting and the Houston Comets, she received six consecutive WNBA All-Star selections from 2001 to her final season in 2006. Staley spent most of her WNBA career simultaneously serving as the head coach of the Temple Owls women's basketball team from 2000 to 2008, leading them to six NCAA tournaments, three regular-season conference championships, and four conference tournament titles.
After becoming South Carolina's head coach in 2008, Staley rebuilt the Gamecocks into one of the top women's basketball programs. During her 16 seasons, she has led South Carolina to nine NCAA tournaments, five championship game appearances (including three consecutive from 2024 and 2026), and three titles, including the program's first in 2017 and a perfect season in 2024. Staley was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Early life
Staley's parents, Clarence and Estelle Staley, moved to North Philadelphia from Orangeburg County, South Carolina in the 1950s, when they were still teenagers. They married young and in 1967 moved into a three-bedroom, single-bath row house in the Raymond Rosen Homes housing project. Together, Clarence, a part-time carpenter, and Estelle, a homemaker, raised five children—three boys, Lawrence, Anthony and Eric, and two girls, Tracey and Dawn. Fearful of her disciplinarian mother, who was of faith and would not spare the rod, Staley knew to "abide by her rules, you lived clean. You're good. You live a happy life".
Playing career
High school years
Staley was named the national high school player of the year during her final season at Murrell Dobbins Vocational High School in Philadelphia.
College years
Staley attended the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she was a first-generation college student and earned her degree in Rhetoric and Communication Studies. During her four seasons in college, she led her team to four NCAA tournaments, three Final Fours and one national championship game. She was named the ACC female athlete of the year and the national player of the year in 1991 and 1992. Staley finished her college career with 2,135 points and held the NCAA record for career steals with 454 (which has since been broken by current record holder, Natalie White). She finished her career at Virginia as the school's all-time scoring leader and as the ACC's all-time leader in assists at 729, but those records have since been broken by former UVA stars Monica Wright and Sharnee Zoll. Her number 24 is retired at UVA.
Overseas Pro Career
In 1994–1995, after graduation, Staley played professional basketball in France in Tarbes, Italy, Brazil, and Spain before joining the ABL and then the WNBA.
USA Basketball
Staley was named to the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team (now called the U19 team). The team participated in the second Junior World Championship, held in Bilbao, Spain, in July 1989. Team USA lost their opening game to South Korea in overtime, then lost a two-point game to Australia. After defeating Bulgaria, Team USA lost another close game, this time to Czechoslovakia by three points. The team followed that loss with a victory against Zaire, but dropped its final game to Spain, again by three points. Staley averaged 10.8 points per game and recorded 14 steals over the course of the event, both second highest on the team. The Americans finished the tournament in seventh place.
Staley played for Team USA throughout her career. In 1994 she competed in the World Championships and was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. She led the 1996 team to an undefeated record of 8–0 and the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. She was also a member of the 2000 Olympic team that defended the gold medal.
Staley was selected to represent the United States at the 1995 USA Women's Pan American Games, but only four teams committed to participate, so the event was cancelled.
Coaching career
Temple Owls (2000–2008)
Staley had no interest in coaching when she was initially approached by the athletic director of Temple University, Dave O'Brien. She was on the Olympic team at the time which was attending the Final Four in Philadelphia. O'Brien, mindful that Staley was a Philadelphia native and star basketball player at Philadelphia's Dobbins Technical High School, talked her into visiting the campus, where she was guided to a conference room with a dozen people who were treating her visit as a job interview. When they asked her if she saw herself as a coach she replied "no, not at all". She initially resisted offers to become the coach. O'Brien changed his tactics and challenged her to identify some ways to turn the program around. She was still playing in the WNBA at the time and her friends told her it would be impossible to continue to play and coach. That challenge convinced her she should give coaching a try, and accepted the position of head coach at Temple. In her first season, 2000–01, Temple advanced to the WNIT. In 2001, 2002 and 2004, her teams won the Atlantic 10 tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
In the 2004–05 season, Staley's Owls went 28–4, including a perfect 19–0 against Atlantic 10 opponents. However, they lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Rutgers University. Staley reached the 100-win plateau in the A-10 semifinals vs Xavier University that season, becoming the fastest coach in women's basketball to achieve that feat.
On May 7, 2008, it was confirmed by Temple University that Staley would leave Temple for the recently vacated coaching position at the University of South Carolina. She left Temple with the best overall record of 172–80, along with six NCAA appearances and four Atlantic 10 titles.
South Carolina Gamecocks (2008–present)
At South Carolina, Staley started rebuilding a program from scratch, suffering through two losing seasons at the start of her tenure. Starting with 10 wins during the 2008–09 season, she led the program to ever better finishes in each subsequent season, leading to the program's first number 1 ranking and Final Four appearance during the 2014–15 season. They picked up where they left off a year later, going undefeated in SEC play; however, they were upended in the Sweet 16 by Syracuse.
In 2016–17, the Gamecocks repeated as SEC regular-season and tournament champions for the third year in a row, and advanced to the second Final Four in school history. They defeated conference rival Mississippi State in the national championship game to win the first national title in school history. Staley became the second African American to lead a women's basketball team to a national championship; Carolyn Peck had coached Purdue to the 1999 national championship. After the 2017 win, The Post and Courier listed Staley first in their ranking of the 25 most powerful people in South Carolina sports.
thumb|Coach Staley with a young fan after the February 13, 2020, win over Auburn
Under Staley the program has captured nine SEC regular season championships, nine SEC tournament titles, six Final Fours, three NCAA national championships, twelve Sweet Sixteen appearances, five SEC player of the year awards and five SEC freshman of the year awards. Staley herself has been awarded SEC coach of the year five times.
In 2020, Staley led the Gamecocks to a 32–1 season, winning yet another SEC regular season, and tournament championship. The Gamecocks finished #1 in both major polls before the NCAA tournament was cancelled. Staley swept the national coach of the year awards in 2020; she is the first person to win the Naismith award as a player and also as a coach.
In 2021, Staley led her team to a third Final Four, before losing a controversial game to Stanford 66–65. Staley's Gamecocks signed the #1 class for the then-upcoming 2021–22 season. On October 15, 2021, Staley signed a seven-year, $22.4 million contract extension with South Carolina, making her the highest-paid Black college basketball coach in the country.
In 2022 the Gamecocks were #1 in both polls for the entire season, they would go on to defeat 14 ranked teams, including Stanford, UConn, NC State, Oregon, Maryland, Duke, LSU, Tennessee and Georgia. In the NCAA tournament, the Gamecocks defeated Howard, Miami, North Carolina, Creighton, Louisville, and then UConn again to win a second national championship. Staley is the first coach to defeat Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Kim Mulkey in the same season. Staley was again named Naismith Award winner, and coached the National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston.
In 2022, following an alleged racist incident by a Brigham Young University fan against a member of the Duke women's volleyball team, Staley canceled the team's matchups against BYU in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons. Despite an investigation that did not find evidence to corroborate the claim, Staley declined to reinstate the series.
Staley won her 600th game on February 22, 2024, in 786 games (534 at South Carolina).
In 2024, Staley guided the team to a perfect 38–0 season, winning their third national title. Staley won her fourth Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
Staley was among 2025's 20 most admired leaders in sports, according to The New York Times (The Athletic). Eddie George described Staley as 'transcending' sports, noting, "the best leaders in every arena look to her for wisdom, perspective and guidance".
At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Staley won her first gold medal as Team USA's Head coach, winning all six games and extending her record to 45–0. Staley also coached Team USA to a gold medal in the 2018 World Cup in Spain and two gold medals in the 2019 and 2021 FIBA AmeriCups.
Awards and honors
Staley ranked number 2 on the Post and Courier Columbia's 2025 Power List.
NCAA (Player)
- 1991 – Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball
- 1991 – WBCA Player of the Year
- 1991 – Naismith College Player of the Year
- 1991 – USBWA Women's National Player of the Year
- 1991 – The Honda-Broderick Cup winner for all sports
- 1992 – Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball
- 2022 – SEC Coach of the Year
- 2022 – USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- 2022 – Naismith College Coach of the Year
- 2022 – WBCA National Coach of the Year
- 2023 – SEC Coach of the Year
- 2023 – USA Today Woman of the Year
- 2023 – USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- 2023 – Naismith College Coach of the Year
- 2023 – WBCA National Coach of the Year
- 2024 – SEC Coach of the Year
- 2024 – The Athletic Coach of the Year
- 2024 – USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- 2024 – The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
- 2024 – Naismith College Coach of the Year
- 2024 – AP National Coach of the Year
- 2024 – WBCA National Coach of the Year
- 2024 – Jimmy V Award
Halls of Fame
- 2008 – Inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
- 2012 – Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
- 2017 – Omicron Delta Kappa faculty/staff initiate at the University of South Carolina
- 2025 - Daniel Rickenmann, mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, declared the month of May "Dawn Staley Month."
- 2025 - Statue of Staley unveiled in Columbia, South Carolina, at the intersection of Senate Street and Lincoln Street outside the Pastides Alumni Center.
Career statistics
College
Source
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Team
!GP
!Points
!FG%
!3P%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!SPG
!BPG
!PPG
|-
|1989
|Virginia
|31
|574
|45.7%
|35.5%
|83.1%
|5.1
|4.6
|3.3
|0.3
|18.5
|-
|1990
|Virginia
|32
|574
|45.2%
|34.6%
|78.1%
|6.7
|4.4
|3.2
|0.5
|17.9
|-
|1991
|Virginia
|34
|495
|45.0%
|32.4%
|82.4%
|6.1
|6.9
|3.9
|0.3
|14.6
|-
|1992
|Virginia
|34
|492
|48.4%
|30.3%
|80.8%
|5.6
|6.1
|3.4
|0.5
|14.5
|-
|Career
|
|131
|2135
|46.0%
|33.4%
|81.1%
|5.9
|5.6
|3.5
|0.4
|16.3
|}
WNBA
Regular season
|-
| align="left" | 1999
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 32 || 32 || 33.3 || .415 || .317 || .934 || 2.3 || 5.5 || 1.2 || 0.1 || 2.81 || 11.5
|-
| align="left" | 2000
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 32 || 32 || 34.3 || .372 || .330 || .878 || 2.4 || 5.9 || 1.2 || 0.0 || 2.84 || 8.8
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 32 || 32 || 36.0 || .381 || .371 || .895 || 2.2 || 5.6 || 1.6 || 0.0 || 3.13 || 9.3
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 32 || 32 || 33.2 || .364 || .398 || .762 || 1.8 || 5.1 || 1.5 || 0.0 || 2.50 || 8.7
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 34 || 34 || 31.9 || .417 || .389 || .836 || 1.7 || 5.1 || 1.4 || 0.1 || 2.29 || 7.9
|-
| align="left" | 2004
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 34 || 34 || 33.6 || .431 || .407 || .759 || 1.7 || 5.0 || 1.3 || 0.1 || 2.18 || 8.9
|-
| align="left" | 2005*
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 23 || 23 || 29.7 || .405 || .405 || .767 || 2.3 || 5.3 || 1.3 || 0.0 || 1.83 || 6.3
|-
| align="left" | 2005*
| align="left" | Houston
| 10 || 3 || 22.1 || .357 || .286 || .900 || 1.7 || 2.8 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 1.20 || 3.3
|-
| align="left" | 2005
| align="left" | Totals
| 33 || 26 || 27.4 || .396 || .375 || .800 || 2.1 || 4.5 || 1.1 || 0.0 || 1.64 || 5.4
|-
| align="left" | 2006
| align="left" | Houston
| 34 || 34 || 29.9 || .420 || .427 || .806 || 2.2 || 3.9 || 1.0 || 0.2 || 2.24 || 7.4
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |8 years, 2 teams
| 263 || 256 || 32.4 || .399 || .376 || .824 || 2.0 || 5.1 || 1.3 || 0.1 || 2.44 || 7.5
Playoffs
|-
| align="left" | 1999
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 4 || 4 || 39.3 || .325 || .438 || .833 || 1.3 || 5.8 || 0.8 || 0.0 || 2.75 || 12.0
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 8 || 8 || 37.6 || .416 || .500 || .810 || 2.3 || 4.4 || 1.1 || 0.3 || 4.25 || 11.8
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 2 || 2 || 39.0 || .286 || .200 || .500 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.5 || 0.0 || 2.00 || 8.5
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 2 || 2 || 29.0 || .353 || .500 || .400 || 2.5 || 3.5 || 2.0 || 0.0 || 2.00 || 9.0
|-
| align="left" | 2005
| align="left" | Houston
| 5 || 0 || 25.0 || .462 || .375 || .857 || 0.8 || 2.8 || 1.8 || 0.0 || 1.40 || 4.2
|-
| align="left" | 2006
| align="left" | Houston
| 2 || 2 || 20.0 || .143 || .333 || .000 || 2.5 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 2.00 || 1.5
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |6 years, 2 teams
| 23 || 18 || 33.0 || .366 || .423 || .754 || 1.8 || 4.0 || 1.2 || 0.1 || 2.78 || 8.7
Head coaching record
Personal life
Staley is a Christian and routinely thanks God after games. On Easter Sunday 2024, Staley said postgame "He is risen" referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After her team won the 2024 National title, Staley thanked Jesus.
Staley heads the Dawn Staley Foundation, which focuses on academics and athletics and sponsors basketball leagues and other fund-raising activities.
Staley hosted a podcast, Netlife, produced by Just Women's Sports, beginning in January 2022.
Staley owns a Havanese dog named Champ, who has his own Twitter account, and frequently visits practices.
Staley is a fan of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. Throughout the 2022 NFL season, Staley was often seen wearing their jerseys while coaching the Gamecocks.
Book
- Staley, Dawn (2025). Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three. New York: Black Privilege Publishing/Atria.
See also
- List of college women's basketball career coaching wins leaders