Dawn Staley has done everything there is to do in basketball. Except coach men.
Staley, 53, was a high school basketball star at Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia. She was a two-time Naismith College Player of the Year at Virginia and a six-time WNBA All-Star. She won three Olympic gold medals as a player and one more as the head coach. All together in international competitions, as a both a player and coach, her record is 13 gold medals, one bronze. And in 2017 and 2022, she led South Carolina to the NCAA National Championship.
In eight years as head coach at Temple, Staley’s teams went 172-80 (99-25 in conference) and made six trips to the NCAAs. In 15 years leading the Gamecocks, she’s won nearly 80% of her games, going 402-106 (183-55 in conference), and made 11 straight trips to the NCAAs, with two national championships, three Final Fours, one Elite Eight, and four Sweet Sixteens.
Yes, Becky Hammon has the NBA experience with the San Antonio Spurs and last summer won the WNBA title with the Las Vegas Aces, and oddsmakers believe if a woman is going to become an NBA head coach it’s likely to be her. But in many ways, Staley is the more logical choice — she has way more international experience, she was the better player and she has won, and won big, at every level.
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Why Not Staley?
So why does she not get the ink as next in line for the NBA? Because she doesn’t want it.
“I don’t want to coach in the men’s game,” Staley said, when asked at this year’s Final Four about putting her name in for the vacant Temple men’s job.
"No ounce of me really wants to coach outside of college," Staley said in a recent video conference with reporters. “I don’t know why my level of interest has never been to coach in the WNBA, NBA or on the men's (college) side. I don’t know why my competitiveness won't allow me to go there. Maybe it's because I think there's too much work to be done in our game. There's a lot of work that needs to be done in women's basketball.”
Some of that work, Staley believes, is in pay equity. In 2021, she went to the negotiating table at South Carolina looking to get a contract similar to that of then-men’s coach Frank Martin. The result was a seven-year deal worth $22.4 million.
That’s another reason Staley can afford to stay coaching women’s hoops. She’s already making great money, far more than most women college coaches, more than Hammon in the WNBA. But her ability to grow her game is also important. As is having a huge impact on the lives of young women and helping set them up for success. Staley also has a national platform to speak out on racism and sexism.
She would probably make a bit more money as an NBA head coach, but Staley has a great gig at South Carolina. After all, does anyone think she’d want the aggravation of coaching the Hornets?
