A Champion’s Journey: How Dawn Staley’s Achievements Make a Case for GOAT Status
Cleveland — Dawn Staley answered questions about her opinions on the GOAT topic prior to the national championship game. According to Staley, one must first win a title in order to participate in that conversation.
Staley stated, “If Caitlin wins the championship, she is pretty darn good, absolutely, she is a GOAT,” in reference to Iowa star Caitlin Clark. Regardless, she is pretty damn good. However, taking home the title would make things official.
In South Carolina’s 87-85 victory on Sunday, Staley and the Gamecocks kept Clark from winning it all, but perhaps the most important discussion should center on Staley herself. The 10th consecutive unbeaten season in NCAA women’s basketball history was capped off by the Gamecocks coach’s third championship, and she has now achieved the best coaching job of her career. Staley’s corpus of work ranks her among the greatest collegiate basketball coaches of all time, in addition to overseeing the most successful program in the contemporary era.
At all costs, keep Dawn Staley safe! No buts, ands, or ifs!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 7, 2024
Check out Staley’s curriculum vitae. In 2021, she led a squad that won an Olympic gold medal. Having made six Final Four appearances in the past ten years, she is currently ranked sixth. In terms of titles won, she and Tara VanDerveer are equal for fourth place all time. She established a powerhouse at a school that had only made two trips to the NCAA Tournament in the seventeen seasons prior to her arrival. She is the fifth coach in history to finish a season unbeaten.
It is impossible to overestimate her actions with South Carolina in 2023–2024. All five of the Gamecocks’ starters from the previous campaign were gone, along with a reserve who was selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft. Two rotation players who combined for an average of 11.2 rebounds and 14 points a game a year ago are back. To be honest, the coaching staff did not think they would be the top team in the nation after watching their summer practices. Both inside and outside the group, there was serious skepticism about what this almost entirely new group might achieve.
In addition to putting together the present lineup, Staley optimized it by pushing all three of the appropriate buttons. One year following teams’ ability to overwhelm South Carolina with paint, forcing the Gamecocks to make jump shots, Staley signed Te-Hina Paopao and discovered Tessa Johnson, a stand-in for Paopao, on the bench. She made it possible for MiLaysia Fulwiley to showcase her strongest, most impressive traits while still being happy in a supporting role and developing her defensive acumen. After playing as a sixth woman a year ago, she unleashed the beast inside Kamilla Cardoso, challenging her to constantly be dominant as the center of attention in South Carolina. The list is endless.
“She got the most out of this group,” ESPN analyst Andraya Carter said. “Sometimes the most out of groups in the past hasn’t been enough, and that’s OK. But to get the most out of this group – this young group, this new group – is just really cool.”
Staley’s team was ready for the championship game, having seemingly been building toward a rematch between Iowa and South Carolina all season long. In an instant, her team was down 10-0, but Bree Hall said that when they glanced to the bench, they saw a composed Staley, who prevented them from becoming angry or rattled.
Rather, the Gamecocks adhered to their strategy and used their advantages. Cardoso was center stage as usual. This implied that they applied pressure to the paint and relied on Cardoso to fix their mistakes. Playing high-low basketball with Cardoso, Kitts, and/or Ashlyn Watkins, they took use of their size inside by passing the ball to their most vulnerable player. Cardoso was quick to swing the ball out to an open shooter if the Hawkeyes doubled her.
“Since the first day I got to South Carolina, she’s been working so hard to get me ready and prepared for moments like this,” Cardoso said.
Tessa Johnson, the best combination ball handler and shooter, entered the game after Iowa went into a zone, thanks to a play called by Staley. In order to prevent the defense from rotating, South Carolina knew it needed to bend the zone toward the strong side and then quickly pass to the weak side, where Johnson and Hall were ready to go. They increased the tempo when Fulwiley was in the game because they knew Iowa could not keep up with her quickness; otherwise, they settled the ball in the half court to make the Hawkeyes defend and wear them out.
The Gamecocks were more active on defense. Staley changed the game plan to put more pressure on Clark at the point of attack after leaving the center of the floor wide against the Hawkeyes in 2023. He then trusted perimeter defenders to assist, knowing that their length and quickness would allow them to catch up to shooters in time.
“We were just connected from one through five,” assistant coach Winston Gandy said. “That’s the credit to the players and credit to Coach in the sense of, even despite the early run they had, Coach was unfazed, you know? And I thought her belief in the plan, her belief in the five that were on the floor really helped settle us down.”
Throughout the season, Staley’s faith in this group was evident, particularly in the way she pushed herself to adjust to fit their personalities. Her faith in her players was confirmed, whether it was by letting them act more carelessly than normal to the point where they earned the nickname “daycare” or by allowing them to use their phones on game days when it was previously forbidden.
Her players adore her, even the former ones who go out of their way to return and build bonds with the teams that came after them. Her fame and achievements extend beyond South Carolina. Calling her the greatest of all time by Hall, Cardoso, and Paopao is one thing, but Staley has been chosen as the coach that most players nationwide want to play for for the past two seasons. Chiney Ogwumike referred to her as a “one of a kind” and declared that this season marked “definitely” Staley’s best coaching effort.
“No starters, all translating to the W, which means she’s doing her job,” Ogwumike said, “And then to bring them back (to the Final Four) in an undefeated fashion and win. But it keeps getting better and better.”
It is difficult to see how Staley could surpass a perfect season that caps off a three-year run of 109-3 results. Since she has not yet won consecutive titles, in 2025 she might be able to join even more exclusive company. (Those coaches are Linda Sharp of USC, 1983–84; Pat Summitt of Tennessee, 1996–98, 2007–08; and Geno Auriemma of UConn, 2002–04, 2009–10, 2013–16.)
However, Staley’s influence has always been felt through the connections she has made. For example, she has nurtured a sense of community among Black women coaches by continuing Carolyn Peck’s custom of handing them a piece of the net. The results are evident in the South Carolina alumni who succeed at the highest level but nonetheless consult with Staley, as evidenced by the likes of A’ja Wilson who needs to check in at least every two weeks or Zia Cooke who needs confidence boosts.
The new face of collegiate basketball is her. the creator of the top program in the nation and the spokesperson for problems affecting women who play sports and the sport itself.
Dawn has a real understanding of the influence her speech has. [t.co/IY4cbpAQ3W]
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) April 7, 2024
Dawn Staley may not have as many championships overall as Auriemma and Summitt, but she now has the most influence on collegiate basketball. The top players want to be around her long after they have finished playing and want to play for her.
“People would run through brick walls for her,” Paopao said. “To be able to have a coach like that, it’s unimagined. We’re all just really blessed to have someone like her in our corner. She just impacted our lives for the better.”
She has improved things at South Carolina and established a new benchmark that the rest of the nation must follow. Though Staley’s reputation is already cemented, Sunday marked the turning point in her coaching career to date rather than her coronation. Her name will always be associated with the greatest of the finest.
(Photo of Dawn Staley: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images