Dawn Staley’s coaching tree just grew another branch in Division I women’s basketball.
Olivia Gaines, who played two seasons for Staley at South Carolina, will be named the next head coach at North Carolina Central, a person with direct knowledge of the hire told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official announcement is expected within the next few days.
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Gaines takes over the program at the HBCU in Durham, North Carolina, after spending two seasons at Division II Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. She guided the Yellow Jackets to a 36-19 overall record and a 29-14 mark in conference play. In back-to-back seasons, Allen won 18 regular season games, setting a program record.
At Allen, Gaines also coached the SIAC Freshman of the Year, Eboni Clay. Gaines achieved success there despite being the only program in the conference competing without the complement of full scholarships.
Gaines has previously been an assistant coach at Georgia Southern, and was also the head coach at Richard Bland College — a junior college in Petersburg, Virginia. She led Richard Bland to a 29-3 record and an appearance in the NJCAA Division II national championship. She’s also been a high school head coach, the head coach at USC Salkehatchie, and had stops as an assistant in the NCAA Division II and III ranks.
A native of Chester, South Carolina, Gaines played for Staley’s Gamecocks during key seasons when the program was building its foundation as a regular national title contender. When Gaines was a junior in the 2013-14 season, South Carolina won its first of 10 SEC regular season titles under Staley. The next season, the Gamecocks won the SEC Tournament and appeared in the Final Four for the first time.
Gaines played about 10 minutes per game across 67 contests in two seasons for South Carolina teams powered by A’ja Wilson, Tiffany Mitchell and Alaina Coates. In an SEC Tournament semifinal win over LSU in 2015, Gaines piled up four points, four assists, two steals, two rebounds and a block in 18 minutes off the bench.
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NC Central has had difficulty finding a winning formula in women’s basketball since jumping up to Division I in 2008. They’ve had four head coaches since then and just three seasons with a winning record in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play.
The school announced that Terrence Baxter would not return as head coach after three seasons on March 16. It took the Eagles 52 days to land on Gaines, which was the second-longest coaching search in women’s college basketball this year, trailing only VCU, which had an opening for 57 days.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olivia Gaines, who played for Dawn Staley, to coach NC Central
