Dawn Staley once revealed that she was being considered for the New York Knicks head coaching position. She apparently interviewed for the job but stayed loyal to the South Carolina program.
She wishes to win more national championships before moving on to other opportunities. However, in a recent interview, she expressed her desire to explore an opportunity in the NBA over the WNBA.
When asked whether Staley would entertain the right call from a WNBA team, she answered:
“Not one ounce. Not WNBA.”
Then Craig Melvin asked her what if an NBA team approached her. Staley said:
“I entertained the Knicks job. I came up there and interviewed. I sat down with Leon and Wes, and the whole Knick organization. I went through the process. Every candidate on their list came and sat down with them, had lunch like with every candidate on their list. I mean, I was interviewed, got up on the whiteboard. No, they didn’t offer me the job. But I’ll say this, no NBA team is ready for a female coach right now.”
Dawn Staley has been a head coach for 26 years now. She started with Temple and, in 2008, took over the South Carolina Gamecocks. In her 18-year stint as a Gamecocks coach, she has won three national championships, eight Final Four appearances, and nine SEC tournament championships. She has also won the Naismith Coach of the Year award four times.
In her esteemed career, she has been linked with multiple opportunities to coach in the WNBA. There have been rumors of Staley being the leading candidate for a team from her hometown, Philadelphia. She has even expressed interest in the potential WNBA expansion project in the past. There are chances that she might be involved in leadership or even ownership capacity, if not coaching.
Dawn Staley reveals why she started coaching
Staley shared how coaching was not in her DNA until the moment she actually took the job at Temple. She revealed that she was actually challenged to take that job. She did not even know that she was being interviewed. She had also expressed that she has no interest in coaching.
Dawn Staley was challenged to become a coach just to prove someone wrong. And the sport of basketball is grateful for that.
Read more:
South Carolina WNBA Draft: All Dawn Staley Players Departing in 2026 Listed
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