Staley’s humanity leads to success
Former UVA star forms a special bond with players
Dawn Staley has won a lot, but she has never won like this. She has never coached a team to an NCAA championship without a superstar. Under her helm, South Carolina won in 2017 with A’ja Wilson and in 2022 with Aliyah Boston, both of whom became the No. 1 picks in their respective WNBA drafts.
But this season, she had no singular, transcendent talent. If anything, it was the opposite. Staley lost five starters to the WNBA last offseason. Expectations for the Gamecocks in 2023-24 were tempered.
So, naturally, in Staley fashion, she exceeded them. With a completely new starting five, the North Philadelphia native and former University of Virginia star guard led her team to a perfect 38-0 season, capped with a championship game win over Iowa on Sunday.
It’s rare to see Staley get emotional, but as the confetti fell, she hung her head and started to cry. Boston, who also works as an analyst for ESPN, was there to pick her up.
It was a fleeting, but telling moment. This is how Staley wins. She’s real and raw with her players. She leads with her heart, and they reward her for it. Staley has had to adjust over the years to different teams and different styles of play, but that foundation has never wavered, and it all started at Temple.
When Staley was hired as the Owls’ coach in 2000, she was in the midst of her WNBA career. She was not sure she wanted the job. But despite that, she knew, even back then, what kind of coach she wanted to be.
“I see coaches as, like, untouchable people,” she told Newsday at the time. “They’re not really human beings. Not not human beings, but a head coach is usually not involved personally, socially. And me, I won’t let this position change who I am. I’ll have fun and I’ll joke around with them, but when we get between the lines, that’s what I’m here for.
“And I’m not going to change who I am for the title I have now.”
Temple had not posted a winning record since 1989-90, but when Staley arrived, that changed immediately. She led the Owls to a 19-11 record in her first season. They went to the NCAA Tournament six times over Staley’s eight seasons with the program. They became perennial winners.
Staley didn’t have the coaching acumen she does today, but she did have her empathy to lean on. It made a difference. Former WNBA standout Candice Dupree played for Staley at Temple from 2002 to 2006. She and her teammates would go to Staley’s house to watch basketball games and eat dinner together. During the summer, they went on road trips to watch their coach play in the WNBA.
“It was more personable,” Dupree said. “I didn’t have that kind of relationship with my AAU coaches or high school coach. We were cool, but it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s all go hang out.’ ”
One of Dupree’s teammates, Deep Creek High graduate Cynthia Jordan, bought her first home from Staley.
“How often do you buy your first home from your coach?” she said.
Not often. But that’s what makes Staley special. There is not much separation between her and her teams. She is the coach, and she sets the rules, but she also brings a humanity to her craft. She doesn’t just know her players, but she knows their parents, their siblings. It’s not a cold, transactional relationship.
Dupree now works for the San Antonio Spurs in player development. It has given her a newfound appreciation for Staley’s coaching style.
“It’s just about being comfortable,” she said. “It’s about trust and knowing that what you share with them is safe. And I think that’s the type of environment that she’s created.
“She knows when to be serious, but she also knows when to be super-playful. Her players are always trying to teach her the latest dances, lingo, all that kind of stuff. And it’s great. They eat it up.”
You could see that with this South Carolina team. This was a young group, and, in her postgame news conference Sunday, Staley did not sugarcoat the obstacles she faced.
“I really am drawn to challenges,” she said. “I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for the lateness. I wasn’t ready for no communication. I wasn’t ready for all the things that come with having a younger team. I wasn’t used to not having a leader just really take hold of situations and handle them.
“So the transition was hard. But then, once I started to look at it as a challenge, I wasn’t going to let them get the best of me, our staff, or our program or what we’ve built.”
She adjusted to the energy her players brought. She loosened up a bit and learned the dances and the lingo. She put trust in her players, especially the young ones, whom she endearingly called the “day care.”
Freshman guards Tessa Johnson and MiLaysia Fulwiley combined for 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the championship game. Raven Johnson, a sophomore guard, was a starter this season.
“She’s like a home away from home,” Raven Johnson said.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a player — current or former — who disagrees. Call it the Staley effect.