Ahead of a new season with the South Carolina Gamecocks, Dawn Staley is busy meeting with prospects who can potentially join the program. Usually, these visits are meant for the prospects to understand the program’s vision, which helps them make their decision.
At the same time, coaches look for prospects who are genuinely interested in becoming a part of the program. However, a prospect who recently visited Staley and USC left quite an impression on the coach with her gesture.
Staley took to X to share it with her followers. She revealed that in her 25-year-long coaching career, she had never seen such a thoughtful gesture from a prospect.
“Good am! In my 25 years of coaching, this is a first,” Staley wrote. I just received a handwritten thank you note from a top prospect…thanking us for her visit and recruitment over the years, and good luck on our season.”
Staley was touched by the gesture and stated that the unnamed prospect is an extraordinary human being.
“Extraordinary human being! 🙏🏾 she’s a @GamecockWBB for all of our sake!” She added.
Good am! In my 25 years of coaching, this is a first. I just received a handwritten thank you note from a top prospect…thanking us for her visit and recruitment over the years and good luck on our season. Extraordinary human being! 🙏🏾 she’s a @GamecockWBB for all of our sake!
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) August 18, 2025
Dawn Staley on how she managed being a coach and a player at the same time
Staley has always done things her way. As different as it might be from the usual course of action for most people, Staley has followed her instinct in everything. Take her coaching tenure with the Temple Owls, for example.
In 1999, Staley joined the Charlotte Sting. Soon, she was approached with a head coaching position offer from Temple. Initially, she had no interest in joining the Owls as her WNBA career was going on in full swing. More importantly, she was about to reach her peak in the league.
As challenging as it was, she took the job. Staley continued to play for the Sting from 1999 to 2005 and played for the Houston Comets the next year. At the same time, she was also managing the coaching responsibilities for the Owls from 2000 to 2008.
During an appearance on The Pivot podcast, she said:
“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.”
Staley admitted that she didn’t know how to be a coach or how to handle the administrative work. So, she reached out to people who had prior experience in those fields, and that made her job considerably easier.
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