South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley is going all out for one of the major teams of her home city with the support she is showing them publicly as they go through the postseason.
On Monday, May 4, coach Nick Nurse and his Philadelphia 76ers squad are going up against coach Mike Brown’s New York Knicks for Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals in the latter’s home floor, the Madison Square Garden.
Being from Philadelphia, Staley has showcased her support towards some of the major sporting teams of the city for quite some time now. This includes both the 76ers and their NFL franchise, the Eagles. With the 76ers commencing the next stage of their run in this year’s postseason, Staley took to her X/Twitter account to let out an exclaiming statement where in she extends her support towards the NBA team.
“Let’s gooooooo @sixers ! Go get game 1!!,” Staley wrote.
– Dawn Staley, May 4, 2026
As it currently stands, Staley is fresh off the recently concluded 2025-26 campaign in which she led her South Carolina-based program to an overall record of 35-4 (15-1 SEC), and they were the top seed coming out of the 2026 SEC standings. The Gamecocks then went all the way to this year’s national championship game, only to lose to the UCLA Bruins by 28 points, 79-51.
Dawn Staley Was Once Asked About The Possibility Of Coaching A Philadelphia-Based WNBA Franchise
In an article written by writer Sidney Snider that is published on Inquirer Sports back on late June of 2025, quotes from coach Dawn Staley’s guest interview with Kylie Kelcee on the Not Gonna Lie podcast was seen. At one point, Staley was asked if she would ever be open to the idea of coaching a Philadelphia-based WNBA franchise. The tenured tactician then dismissed this, sharing that she’d rather be the owner or a part-owner of it.
“No. No. You know why? Because I’d rather be an owner. I think there’s much more in it to ownership. I know a lot of people think that coaching is my best attribute. And I do think I’m a pretty good coach. But when I’m an owner, I could probably touch more people…When the time is right, it will be around for a long time. If it’s forced on Philadelphians, you give us room to criticize it. If it doesn’t start off right, you give Philly room to boo Santa Claus,” Staley was quoted as saying.
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