In honor of March Madness coming to an end, this week we are crushing on former WNBA player and olympian, current South Carolina Women’s Basketball coach, and North Philadelphia native Dawn Staley.
Dawn Staley has made it her main goal to invest and bring engagement to women’s basketball and has been extremely successful in her basketball endeavors. She has made it a point to highlight the success and excitement of all women’s basketball programs apart from just South Carolina’s. In 2012, Staley was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and shortly after, in 2013, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Staley won three gold medals while playing on the Olympic team, and in 2021, became the first person to win an Olympic basketball gold medal as a head coach and a player.
Staley played her college career at the University of Virginia before moving on to the WNBA and Olympic team. While still playing professional basketball in the WNBA, Staley took on the women’s basketball head coach position at Temple University in 2000. In her eight years at Temple, she led her team to six NCAA tournaments, three conference championships, and four conference tournament titles. In 2008, she accepted a position as the head coach for South Carolina women’s basketball and has completely turned the program around since then.
This season the Gamecocks have a perfect record of 36-0 and are looking to be the 10th team in NCAA history to finish a season undefeated with a National Championship. Staley has truly made a name for herself in not only the basketball world but in the sports world as a whole. Her success and accomplishments are something that is celebrated in Philly, even if she may be coaching a team that is states away. We will definitely be cheering on our Woman Crush Wednesday and her South Carolina Gamecocks squad in the final four as they continue to chase their third National Championship this weekend.
“A lot of people notice when you succeed, but they don’t see what it takes to get there.” -Dawn Staley
