Dawn Staley wears many hats in women’s basketball.
The South Carolina head coach has led the Gamecocks to three national championships. The former spunky point guard has won the gold medal both as a player and head coach for the U.S. Olympic team. Advocate, leader, mentor — the 55-year-old Staley, in many ways, has become the face of her sport in between coaching her players and starring in Aflac commercials.
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But this time of year especially, Staley has a habit of (somehow) finding a little more room in her schedule to take on another role, too.
Meet the unofficial Fairy Godmother of the NCAA Tournament.
Even though she’s making her 24th tournament appearance this season, guiding the No. 1 Gamecocks, Staley knows some teams get to this magical stage of the season only once — if ever. So Staley often makes an effort to treat the No. 16 seeds, whom she typically faces in the first round, feel anything but an underdog — at least before they meet on the court anyway.
Last season, Staley unexpectedly visited No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech the day before they met the Gamecocks.
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“Not everybody gets to be part of March Madness,” Tennessee Tech coach Kim Rosamond said. “In fact, (it’s) a very select few. And so when you have people like Dawn Staley take the time to make that even more special for student-athletes, that’s something that those kids will never forget.”
The same was true for a No. 16 seed this season. On Wednesday, before Southern played in the First Four in Columbia, S.C., Staley stopped by the visiting team hotel to encourage the Jaguars, an HBCU program and automatic qualifier out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
After a few players noted how nice the Gamecocks’ coach smelled, Staley — who is recognized for her association with luxury fashion brands — had just the surprise for the Jaguars after they beat Samford (whom she also visited) to ensure a first-round game against South Carolina. Before the Gamecocks beat Southern 103-34 a few days later, Staley gifted the entire team samples of her signature Louis Vuitton Imagination perfume.
Staley called it a “small gesture.” A friend who works at the company had sent her samples of the scent, so she decided to give them to the inquiring Jaguars. Nothing major.
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But for Southern players?
“I think it shows how good of a person she is. It’s not just about basketball,” said senior guard D’Shantae Edwards, who joked she kept going back for hugs when she first met Staley in part because of how great she smelled. “I feel like her coming and giving us words of encouragement meant a lot as a team, and honestly meant a lot to me as a person because it’s bigger than the game for her. It’s about growth as a player. It’s about growth as a person and you can see that when she was talking to us.”
This is nothing new for Staley, though.
Tennessee Tech players were equally ecstatic when Staley stopped last season to chat with them in between practices and introduce them to her dog, Champ, too. The Golden Eagles had gifted Staley a nameplate for her beloved Havanese earlier in the day, and instead of going straight into the locker room when she passed the very team she was set to face the next day, Staley visited with them.
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In 2024, before South Carolina played Presbyterian in Round 1, then-Presbyterian coach Alaura Sharp told her team a surprise guest speaker would be coming to the hotel to visit them before the game. A few players guessed former President Barack Obama, who’d correctly picked the Blue Hose to win their play-in game. Others wondered if a famous rapper was on the way. But none could have imagined that Staley would show up and spend about half an hour with the team, offering advice and posing for photos.
“And when I tell you, she was just so humble in answering those questions,” Sharp said. “She has no idea what she means to everybody else and probably doesn’t even really know what she’s done and what she means for the game of women’s basketball.”
Don’t forget 2023, either, when, ahead of playing Norfolk State in Round 1 of the tournament, Staley picked up the Spartans’ dinner tab — a $5,000 feast at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. (Coach Larry Vickers later joked his team showed up for the South Carolina game five pounds heavier.)
Later in the tournament, she’d call a timeout for an injured UCLA player instead of taking advantage of the Bruins being down a body.
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“There’s so many things I admire about her,” Rosamond said. “But she is always advancing the game, protecting the game, respecting the game and she does so much for people that within the game that doesn’t always get seen or noticed.”
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It’s not just during the tournament, either. Staley makes a point to play HBCU programs during the regular season, including scheduling a true road game at Coppin State, in an effort to provide more exposure for the programs. She famously sliced up her first championship net and delivered the pieces to Black women coaches in the sport as a way to shine a light on their efforts and accomplishments in college basketball.
“We’re in this to take our game to the highest height,” Staley said of women’s basketball after this year’s Coppin State game, which the Gamecocks won 90-48. “We’re no longer in a position of having to just exist. We don’t have to. We’re not in a position where you can just give us what you want to give us. We’re in a position of taking now because we know we’re in high demand.”
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On Monday, the Gamecocks host No. 9 seed USC for a trip to the Sweet 16 in Sacramento. Most of the underdog, double-digit seeds will be watching at home as Staley looks to chase her fourth national championship with the Gamecocks.
Count Sharp among those who are rooting for the Gamecocks to go all the way — all because of Staley.
“I think those gestures that Coach Staley makes, she’s just about the right things,” Sharp said. “And her whole intention is to grow the game of women’s basketball.”
Staley’s got a fan in the Southern players, too.
“A lot of me and my teammates, we look up to Dawn,” said sophomore guard Jocelyn Tate. “I’m very thankful for her. … I’m just glad I got to (meet) her in person and get some insight from her.”
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Women’s College Basketball, Culture
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