South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley once shared her thoughts about her former players’ success in the WNBA. On “The ETCs” show (via the Boardroom YouTube channel) in Nov. 2023, host Eddie Gonzalez asked coach Staley how she felt about her former players thriving in the WNBA and what it says about the Gamecocks program as a whole.
Staley said all the success she sees when it comes to her players warms her heart, and that they deserve every ounce of it. This is because Staley has produced star players in the WNBA, such as three-time regular season MVP A’ja Wilson, 2023 Rookie of the Year awardee Aliyah Boston, three-time All-Star Allisha Gray, and, most recently, Te-Hina Paopao, to name a few of the South Carolina alumni in the league.
“I’m a self-prescribed dream merchant, so when you’re able to see your players’ dreams come true, it does the heart good. It is when we go into people’s living rooms, we tell them that they’ll graduate. The other part of it is their dream of playing in the WNBA; it’s on them and the work that they put in. And, I can honestly say the ones that are in the league now, and the ones who got cut or whatever, they do belong in the league,” Staley said (1:54).
“The league is just incredibly competitive; you’ve got to go to the right situation. Fortunately for A’ja, she went to the right situation where she’s become a two-time, and I think she’s a three-time MVP and a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. We’ve got Aliyah Boston, who is going to be the Rookie of the Year, and I hope that some other Gamecock will be bestowed with some other All-WNBA awards,” she continued.
Dawn Staley and the rest of her Gamecocks program now look to the 2025-26 season in the hopes of winning their third national championship in the last five years, fourth overall. This is because their 2024 national title defense was thwarted by the eventual 2025 national champions, UConn Huskies, when they matched up in this year’s NCAA title game and lost by 23 points, 82-59.
Dawn Staley currently has nine South Carolina Gamecocks active in the WNBA
As per the official South Carolina Gamecocks’ website, there are currently nine of the program’s alumni carving their paths in the WNBA.
Along with the aforementioned A’ja Wilson, Allisha Gray, Aliyah Boston, and Te-Hina Paopao, the other five Gamecocks in the league are Kamilla Cardoso, Tiffany Mitchell, Tyasha Harris, Zia Cooke, and Sania Feagin. South Carolina is the third-most represented college basketball program in the WNBA.
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