At approximately 12 noon today, University of South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen presented a Gamecocks hat to Dawn Staley and welcomed her to the University family as the head coach of the women’s basketball team. Sorensen’s remarks followed a few words by Eric Hyman, Athletics Director at the school, who presented a short summary of Staley’s accomplishments from her high school career to the present. And those accomplishments are many: 172-80 record at Temple University in 8 seasons, 6 20-win seasons and 6 trips to the NCAA Tournament–all in her first attempt at coaching. A record of her accomplishments beyond that could fill pages, but I want to keep the focus on Coach Staley and the future of the South Carolina Gamecocks program.

The first surprise was when Coach Staley introduced 2 members of her coaching staff: Lisa Boyer and Carla McGhee. Boyer has spent several years working with Staley at Temple, but McGhee had coached at Auburn and served as Director of Player Personnel for the WNBA since a 1-year coaching stint with Staley at Temple, several years ago. Staley has not yet announced what other assistants or staff will be joining her at USC.
Staley’s introductory remarks stressed the challenge of this job and how she plans to meet the challenge. “Hard work” was mentioned more than once. Staley said that she was told that turning the program around would take time and that she was patient, “but not THAT patient.” Her goals match those of the USC administration and are that USC women’s basketball become a nationally prominent program and compete for a national championship. She said that her passion is basketball and young people and doing things “the right way.”

In response to reporters’ questions, she said that she had already met 5 members of the current Gamecocks team and that they were ready to get started and hungry for success. She admitted that leaving her hometown of Philadelphia was tough, for a lot of reasons, but that there are some positives to making the move and making it now. One of those is her mother’s health (she would have been here for the announcement, Dawn said, but she doesn’t like to fly) so the fact that there is extended family in the state is a plus. (Staley’s mother is from Swansea, SC and moved to Philadelphia when she was about 13 years old.) Staley said that she will have more help here, when she has to travel, with family able to help out with her mother.

Staley, when asked why she wanted to coach at South Carolina, replied “Why not?” She is looking forward to the challenge of coaching against some of the best coaches and teams in the country, in the Southeastern Conference. She said that she appreciated University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt, for agreeing to play against her Temple team, when other teams would not schedule them. She also said that Summitt is someone she can measure herself against as a coach and that she would like to build the same kind of program that Summitt has–only a little quicker. She said that her style of basketball is to press, 94 feet, and get after the other team–but initially, the main goal is to play to the strengths of our team. She assured that above all, they will play hard. She said that “it’s going to be great to see the end result.”

Staley described herself as an “odds beater” as someone who grew up in Philadelphia’s housing projects and has become a successful basketball player, coach, Olympic medalist and general role model. She said that while the Dawn Staley Foundation will continue to function in Philadelphia, she also plans to bring the same kind of services to South Carolina.

Interestingly, Staley mentioned that she never wanted to become a coach. She said that her assistant, Lisa Boyer, told her often that “you would be a great coach.” Her reply was, “I don’t want to be one of you.” But when Temple’s athletic director talked to her and framed it as a challenge–a challenge to turn the program around and a challenge of her own leadership–she took the challenge.

South Carolina is glad that she did.