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Dawn Staley left Temple University in his original Philadelphia after the 2007-08 season and was appointed head coach of South Carolina Kvinde’s basketball team.
For more than a decade of decade since, Staley has taken the Gamecocks program to the unprecedented heights, leading South Carolina to three national titles during her tenure.
In her new book, “Uncommon Benefit,” Staley revealed that another SEC school expressed interest in her in 2005.
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Dawn Staley from South Carolina Gamecocks against Iowa Hawkeyes during the National Championship Game on Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse 7 April 2024 in Cleveland. (Ben Solomon/NCAA -Photos via Getty Images)
“Alabama came after me first in 2005,” Staley wrote.
She coached in Temple at the time she was contacted by Alabama. The owls ended the 2004-05 season with a 28-4 record and went on to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
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While Staley landed at the same conference as Crimson Tide, she thought South Carolina was the best fit for her family and career.
“I visited campus. I liked the athletic director. But I couldn’t see myself living in Alabama,” she noted.
Head coach Dawn Staley of South Carolina Gamecocks responds to Texas Longhorns during a last four games in the Amalie Arena April 4, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Ben Solomon/NCAA -Photos via Getty Images)
While Staley wasn’t interested in the idea of moving to Alabama, she said the move to South Carolina meant she would still join a league where several coaches had built legendary careers.
“I was drawn to the fact that the USC was part of SEC and its stored heritage in women’s basketball,” staley wrote. “Pat Sumct was in this league, Andy Landers, Melanie Balcomb, all these legendary coaches. I was looking to refine my abilities, rising to compete with the best. The cherry on top was that my parents were originally from South Carolina.”
Staley was also eager for a reunion with her mother, Estelle and her siblings.
The University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley celebrates winning Albany Regional and moving on to Final Four after cutting a piece of the net at MVP Arena in Albany, Ny, 31 March 2024. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In any case, Staley has become a beloved figure in Columbia, South Carolina’s capital and home to Gamecocks. The city recently revealed a statue on campus in honor of Staley.
Staley reflected on a state that embraces her considering her complicated story with her family. Estelle left South Carolina decades ago due to racism and discrimination.
Staley described Homecoming as a “Full Circle Look.”
“Time is a funny thing, isn’t it? That I find myself thriving in the state itself that ran my mother in exile is an irony that I will never forget,” staley wrote. “That she was able to return to her home, her affliction, when I came to work in South Carolina, was a full circular moment enabled by social progress, the civil rights movement, countless change seismic and small, but also largely by faith.”
