Dawn Staley

Bio

Since thrusting South Carolina into the national spotlight when she was hired in May 2008, Dawn Staley has made the Gamecocks a mainstay in the battle for SEC and national championships. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as a player is angling for another induction as a coach with her standing as one of five head coaches with at least three women’s basketball National Championships and the only Black basketball head coach with multiple national titles, one of five head coaches to lead an undefeated team to a National Championship, and the first Black head coach of the USA Basketball Senior National Team.

Staley’s 17 seasons at the helm of the Gamecocks include:

• Three National Championships (2017, 2022, 2024)
• Seven NCAA Final Fours in the last 10 tournaments (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
• Ranking in the AP Top 25 every week since Dec. 10, 2012, the second-longest active streak in the nation and ninth-longest all-time (248)
• 38 straight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll, just the third program to go wire-to-wire in that poll in back-to-back seasons
• 86 total weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll, the third-most in the history of that poll
• Eight 30-win seasons, including a program-record 38 wins in 2023-24
• Nine SEC regular-season championships (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
• Nine SEC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025)
• SEC-record 57 consecutive league regular-season victories, which ranks sixth in NCAA history for conference win streaks
• Four top-two recruiting classes (#2 in 2024, #1 in 2021, #1 in 2019, #2 in 2014)
• 11 NCAA Attendance titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021^, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
• 18 WNBA Draft selections, including 11 first-round and two overall No. 1 picks

While her coaching career is in full bloom, Staley is still recognized for her body of work as a one of the most decorated participants in United States women’s basketball history. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame solidified that legacy with her enshrinement as part of the Class of 2013. The Phoenix Club of Philadelphia established the Dawn Staley Award recognizing the nation’s top guard in women’s Division I basketball in 2013 as well. Staley was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2012. Most recently, Staley will be part of the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

In 25 seasons as a head coach, Staley has led her college teams to 15 25-win seasons, a total of 21 postseason appearances (two WNIT) and 239 weeks in the Associated Press top 10, including 86 in the No. 1 spot – the third most times in the top spot in the history of that poll. Her .773 winning percentage (647-190) ranks seventh in the nation among active head coaches with at least 15 years of experience and ninth all-time.

Also a force in USA Basketball, Staley was named the U.S. Women’s National Team head coach for 2017-21, leading the U.S. to 2018 FIBA World Cup gold to earn USAB National Coach of the Year honors that year, adding gold medals at the 2019 and 2021 FIBA AmeriCups and stretching the U.S. Olympic gold medal streak to seven straight at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, for which she again earned Coach of the Year honors. Prior to that appointment, Staley led three other U.S. teams to gold medals – 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships, 2014 FIBA U18 Americas Championship, 2007 Pan Am Games – and served as an assistant on the Senior National Team 2006-08 and again 2014-16, during which the U.S. claimed gold in the 2014 FIBA World Championship and the 2008 and 2016 Olympics.

At the helm of the Gamecocks over the last 17 seasons, Staley has been named National Coach of the Year five times (2014, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024). Her 2020 unanimous selection made her the first former Naismith Player of the Year to earn the Naismith Coach of the Year award, and she became the first men’s or women’s coach to claim the award in three straight seasons 2022-24. She is a seven-time SEC Coach of the Year and was the 2012 BCA Female Coach of the Year. She is the only Gamecock basketball coach – men’s or women’s – to amass 300 victories at South Carolina and became the fastest coach to 200 wins in program history, needing just 277 games at South Carolina to reach the plateau. She is the program’s all-time winningest coach with 475 wins, a .812 (475-110) winning percentage and a program-record 14 postseason appearances.

In the vaunted SEC, Staley’s 214 league wins are the most among active league coaches and third all-time, trailing just Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees Andy Landers (Georgia, 273) and Pat Summitt (Tennessee, 306). She was the second fastest to 200 league wins (255 games), trailing only Summitt at 229. Her .793 SEC winning percentage (214-56) is second only to Summitt (.874) in league history. Her Gamecocks are the only SEC program with multiple 16-0 seasons in league history, hitting that mark four times (2015-16, 2019-20, 2022-23, 2023-24). Staley’s back-to-back SEC undefeated seasons helped the Gamecocks to an SEC-record 57-game win streak in league play, which ranks sixth in NCAA history for conference win streaks.

In addition to coaching two National Players of the Year, two National Defensive Players of the Year and a National Freshman of the Year, Staley has helped 13 Gamecocks collect 29 All-America selections, three to pick up seven SEC Player of the Year honors, four to earn SEC Defensive Player of the Year recognition a total of eight times, three to SEC 6th Player of the Year honors and six to capture SEC Freshman of the Year. She has coached 23 Gamecocks to All-SEC honors a combined 44 times, including 22 first-team selections. Since her first Gamecock was selected in the 2015 WNBA Draft, a total of 18 South Carolina have been chosen, which is the second-most of any program in that timeframe. Of those 18, 11 have been first-round picks, highlighted by two No. 1 overall picks since 2018. Three Gamecocks have been named WNBA Rookie of the Year and have amassed 13 All-Star selections. A’ja Wilson went on to become a three-time WNBA MVP and two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Prior to taking the helm of the Gamecocks on May 10, 2008, Staley made her coaching debut at Temple, helping the Owls reach the postseason seven times in her eight seasons on the bench, including six NCAA Tournament appearances. Temple posted 20 or more wins in a season six times, collected the first A-10 Tournament title in school history in Staley’s second season (2002) and captured the program’s first national ranking. The Owls became just the second team in A-10 history to collect three straight conference tournament titles, winning the event in 2004, 2005 and 2006, as well.

With a 172-80 record, Staley left Temple as the winningest coach in its women’s basketball history and was the fastest to reach 100 victories. En route to that .683 winning percentage, Staley earned WBCA Region 1 Coach of the Year honors in 2005, was twice named A-10 Coach of the Year (2004, 2005), and guided the team to a share of the regular-season A-10 title in 2007-08. She built that success on a foundation of discipline and caring.

“A lot of people think that X’s and O’s are the biggest part of coaching, but it’s actually very little,” Staley said. “It’s about relationships and discipline. I truly believe that the disciplined person can do anything, so I try to set up a platform on which student-athletes can be disciplined. With that, I want to build a family atmosphere that includes both the staff and the student-athletes. Once those things are in place, the basketball part becomes very easy because everyone wants to win for each other. We want to work for one another; we want to prepare people to be successful.”

Staley has carried that coaching philosophy to USA Basketball, where her presence on the coaching staff has become as ubiquitous as it was on the court for nearly a decade beginning in 1994. In an international coaching tenure that began in 2006, Staley has thrived both in the head chair and as an assistant, helping the U.S. amass seven gold medals. After two terms as an assistant coach with the Senior National Team, first joining that group in 2006, and three head coaching assignment in the organization, Staley was named head coach of the Senior National Team for 2017-21.

Her first coaching role on a national team level was as an assistant with the 2006 World Championship team, and, following that team’s success, she was asked to stay with the team through the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The U.S. won its fourth-straight Olympic gold medal — all with Staley involved in some capacity — that year. In between those two events, she helped the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship in Chile. While she worked with the Senior National Team, Staley also took on a head coaching role for the 2007 USA Pan American Games Team, leading the college players to a perfect 5-0 record and a gold medal against more veteran international squads.

After stepping away from USA Basketball during the next Olympic cycle, Staley returned to the fold in 2014, again taking on dual roles within the organization. She kicked off the stretch with her second head coaching gold medal, leading the U.S. to gold in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship and closed the year as an assistant on the 2014 FIBA World Championship gold-medal team. In 2015, she added to her coaching gold-medal count with a U.S. victory in the FIBA U19 World Championships, which earned her USA Basketball Co-National Coach of the Year honors and made her the first person to earn both Coach and Athlete of the Year selections from the organization. In 2016, Staley picked up another gold medal as she was an assistant on the Rio Olympic team that captured its sixth-straight Olympic gold medal. As the first black head coach of the Women’s Senior National Team, she led the U.S. to the 2018 FIBA World Cup and the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup. Staley will continue to lead the American side at least through the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

As a player, Staley’s success came early in her career, beginning with being named USA Today’s National High School Player of the year in 1988 as a senior at Dobbins Tech. She went on to a four-year career at the University of Virginia that featured three trips to the NCAA Final Four, including a championship game appearance in 1991 after which she was named Most Outstanding Player. A two-time National Player of the Year (1991, 1992) and three-time Kodak All-American (1990, 1991, 1992), Staley was the ACC Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992 and the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1989. Finishing her career as the only player in ACC history – male or female – to record more than 2,000 points, 700 rebounds, 700 assists and 400 steals, Staley is one of three players at Virginia to have her jersey retired. She was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Women’s Basketball Team in 2002 and earned a spot on ESPN.com’s “Top Players of the Past 25 Years.” In April 2008, she was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

On the international scene, Staley made her first appearance in a USA Basketball uniform as a member of the 1989 Junior World Championship Team and 15 years later played her final international game after helping the organization to a 196-10 record. Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2000 and 2004 highlight her collection of 10 gold medals and one bronze on the world stage.

Staley was also on two FIBA World Championship gold-medal teams (1998, 2002). Twice named USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year (1994, 2004), Staley counts carrying the U.S. flag in front of the United States delegation in the 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony among her most gratifying moments on the international stage.

Following the 1996 Olympic Games, Staley joined the Richmond Rage of the ABL, one of two women’s basketball professional leagues started in the wake of USA Basketball’s success on the world stage. After two all-star seasons with the organization, she switched leagues, signing with the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting in 1999. Including the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Houston Comets, Staley played in the WNBA All-Star game five times and was the first player in league history to represent both the East and West teams during her career. A member of the WNBA’s All-Decade Team, as selected by a panel of national and WNBA-market media as well as the league’s players and coaches, Staley twice earned the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award (1999, 2006) and won the WNBA Entrepreneurial Spirit Award in 1999. Following her retirement from the league, the WNBA began awarding the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award in 2007, honoring the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community in which she works or lives.

Staley lives that mantra daily not only through individual appearances and in encouraging her teams to pursue community services opportunities, but also through co-founding INNERSOLE. Since her arrival at South Carolina, she has continually invested time with various projects in Columbia, but found that she craved one hallmark initiative that could provide sustained assistance and create lasting change in one of her favorite constituencies – children. In July 2013, Staley found that in the creation of INNERSOLE, which aims to provide new sneakers to children who are homeless and children who are in need. Remembering the feeling of confidence and pride she felt as a child whenever she wore new sneakers, Staley initially launched the organization via social media, and her broad network of friends, fans and colleagues immediately leapt into action. Shoes poured in from all around the country, and a movement was born.

Local and national organizations have recognized Staley’s commitment to giving back, most recently with the 2020 Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service. The Columbia Chamber naming her its 2017 Ambassador of the Year, and, in 2013, then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley tabbed Staley to receive the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor from the governor bestowed on those who have displayed significant achievement and service to the state. Staley has twice been presented the Wanamaker Award (1997, 2005), presented annually to the athlete, team or organization that has done the most to reflect credit upon Philadelphia and to the team or sport in which he/she excels. She is the only individual woman to ever win the award and joins Joe Frazier and Steve Carlton as the only individuals to capture the honor twice. In 2007, the Rotary Club of Tulsa named Staley its female recipient of the Henry P. Iba Citizenship Award, which is presented annually to the male and female athlete who has excelled in both their sport and their service to others.

Staley was honored by the University of Virginia Women’s Center in 2006 with the Center’s Distinguished Alumna Award, which honors a female graduate of the University who has demonstrated excellence, leadership and extraordinary commitment to her field and who has used her talents as a positive force for change. The University further recognized Staley’s standing in the community when it asked her to give the valedictory address at the 2009 Valedictory Exercises.

Following the South Carolina’s 2017 National Championship, both of Staley’s hometowns renamed streets in her honor with Columbia Mayor Steven K. Benjamin renaming Lincoln Street from College Street to Blossom Street Dawn Staley Way, which leads directly to the Gamecocks’ homecourt, Colonial Life Arena, in April 2017. In December 2017, the City of Philadelphia named the two-block stretch of Diamond Street from 23rd to 25th Street, which was the path from Staley’s house in the Raymond Rosen Projects to the Moylan (now Hank Gathers) Recreational Center where she began her basketball career, Dawn Staley Lane. In 2023, the City of Columbia announced plans to erect a statue of Staley at the corner of Main and Gervais Streets across from the South Carolina State House. The statue is expected to be installed in Fall 2024 on the heels of Staley’s third National Championship.

For the first time, Dawn Staley is sharing her inspiring life story through her new book, Uncommon Favor which reveals the journey that led to Staley’s success, including the challenges she faced. From dealing with sexism on the court to feeling isolated in new environments, Staley honed her skills and learned valuable life lessons about mental fortitude and maturity that have grounded her throughout her career. Beginning with her humble origins on the North Philadelphia basketball court and her rise to national fame at the University of Virginia—where she led her team to three Final Fours—Staley recounts the key moments that shaped her winning mindset.

Her iconic career in the WNBA and her groundbreaking coaching journey at the University of South Carolina highlight the milestones and turning points that have defined her success, both on and off the court. Fearless and authentic, Uncommon Favor shares the rewards of leading with conviction and the courage to redefine the limits of what is possible.