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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > Marilyn McManus > Dawn of a New Era for South Carolina Basketball
Dawn of a New Era for South Carolina Basketball
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: May 8th, 2008 @ 9:51am
Dawn Staley will be introduced as the new head coach for South Carolina women’s basketball today. Staley has spent the last eight years coaching the Temple Owls in her hometown of Philadelphia. When she was hired by Temple in 2000, she had extensive playing experience spanning the college, professional and international ranks, but no prior coaching experience. Apparently, she’s a quick study. In her eight seasons at the Atlantic 10 Conference school, her team won the Atlantic 10 conference championship four times and advanced to the NCAA tournament six times. The Owls also attained their first ever Top 25 ranking during Staley’s regime. She was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and was also the 2005 Regional Coach of the Year. She is already ranked 31st on the list of winningest active head coaches with a .693 winning percentage. Only three coaches with seven years or less of Division I experience rank higher.
Her college years were spent at the University of Virginia (1989-1992) where she was a three-time Kodak All-American and helped her team to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including 3 trips to the Final Four. She is the only player in ACC history to tally more than 2000 points, 700 rebounds, 700 assists and 400 steals. She was one of only two ACC players to record a triple-double, something she did twice.
After college, she played professionally in France, Italy, Brazil and Spain and began playing for Team USA in 1994. She is one of three women to win three consecutive Olympic basketball gold medals. When women’s professional basketball became an option in the United States, she joined the Richmond (later Philadelphia) Rage of the American Basketball League, then was drafted by the upstart WNBA in 1999 and joined the Charlotte Sting. Staley played nearly 7 seasons with the Sting and was a 5-time WNBA All Star. Since retiring as a player, she has increased her coaching duties by becoming an assistant coach with USA Basketball. She will continue working with the USA Senior Women’s team through the 2008 Olympics games.
Many University of South Carolina women’s basketball fans were skeptical of the rumors that Staley was not only high on Eric Hyman’s “To Hire” list, but also apparently interested in taking the position. Knowledgeable fans were aware of her deep roots in the Philadelphia area, as well as having a sneaking suspicion that the high-profile job that most interested her was the top spot at her alma mater, UVA. (That job is currently held by Debbie Ryan, who has inhabited the position for 31 years now.) To complicate matters further, Staley had signed a contract extension with Temple last year, reportedly paying her close to $500,000.00 yearly and including a hefty buyout clause to prevent her from being tempted by offers from other schools. Yet somehow, Athletics Director Eric Hyman convinced her to leave her roots behind and take on a new challenge in the Southeastern Conference with the South Carolina Gamecocks. With this hire, Hyman should silence the critics who claimed that women’s basketball at USC was an afterthought and not taken seriously. The University is making a substantial commitment to hire an accomplished coach on the rise, indicating a desire to turn things around and do it quickly.
Staley’s competitiveness and legendary intensity should serve her well, as she takes on a larger challenge in a higher-profile conference. She trades rivalries with George Washington, Xavier and Charlotte for the likes of Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Staley inherits a team that went 15-15 in the 2007-2008 season and 4-10 in SEC play. Eight players are expected to return to the Gamecocks team, all either seniors or sophomores. The incoming class, recruited by departing head coach Susan Walvius and her staff, is ranked in the Top Twenty in the country by a number of recruiting analysts. If the players are as excited by this hire, as the fans seem to be, 2008-2009 should be a very interesting season.
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