South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley once talked about how her life was like balancing playing professional basketball and coaching college basketball. In May 2023, coach Staley appeared on “The Pivot Podcast,” where she was asked how it was to juggle being a WNBA player and starting off her coaching career.
This is because Staley was a player in the league for the Charlotte Sting and the Houston Comets while commencing her college basketball coaching career with the Temple Owls from 1999 to 2006. Staley detailed that she was able to get through this by being wise with the support system and staff she surrounds herself with.
“It was easy, actually. I mean I got great people, I got people who were like real coaches. I didn’t really consider myself a real coach. But I think who you hire, who you get in the Foxhole with is very, very important. I got people who really balance, you know, what my weaknesses were. I didn’t know how to be a coach. I didn’t know all the administrative work, didn’t know that, so I tried to get somebody who was a coach, that’s what they’ve been doing for decades,” Staley said (5:43).
Staley and the Gamecocks lost to the UConn Huskies by 23 points, 82-59, in the 2025 national championship game as the defending champions. They ended the year with a 35-4 overall record (15-1 SEC).
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Dawn Staley said being a WNBA player while coaching helped her tremendously with recruiting
On the same episode of “The Pivot Podcast,” coach Dawn Staley revealed that she was able to use her credibility as a WNBA player when it came to player recruiting.
This is because of the fact that players would instantly look up to her as someone who made it into the league and even thrived, hoping to get mentored by her.
“Coaching gave me instant credibility in recruiting because I’m doing the very thing that the players we aspire, they want to do. They want to play in the WNBA. So, I could get in any door, doesn’t mean I’m going to, you know, land the commitment, but I can get in the door. So, allow me to get in the door,” Staley said.
Staley, who will enter her 18th year as a coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks in the 2025-26 season, is now actively pursuing her fourth national title after having won two of the last five NCAA championships with her program.
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