University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has led her team to three national titles, making her one of the most decorated coaches in college basketball history. But she didn’t always want to be called “Coach.”
In her new book, “Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three,” Staley discusses her impressive basketball career playing for the University of Virginia, winning three Olympic gold medals and solidifying herself as a key figure in the early years of the WNBA.
Recalling when athletic director Dave O’Brien first asked her to coach Temple University’s women’s basketball team over two decades ago, Staley tells TODAY.com she thought, “Why would I do that?”
Though she now finds coaching the “perfect profession for who I am,” Staley remembers at the time, “I didn’t know that, because I thought about all the other things that would deter me from coaching.”
“I’m responsible for 18-to-22-year-olds, and (I was) young myself, I’m 29, 30 years old. Why would I take on all that responsibility when they may not have a disciplined parent like I had?” Staley, 55, recalls. “Like, I knew I was not going to shame my family’s name. I knew that I was going to work hard with everything. I’m going to be respectful if somebody is telling me something … everybody doesn’t grow up in a household like that.”
But O’Brien was strategic in convincing Staley to accept the role. The now-five-time national coach of the year says she was first asked if she was capable of leading.
“I’m like, ‘You’re bringing me in here to ask me if I can lead? I’ve been a captain on every team that I’ve been on,’” she recounts, adding, “Sometimes people say things to get a reaction out of you.”
What sealed the deal? O’Brien offered Staley a tempting task.
“He walked me into the challenge of turning their program around, and I’m drawn to challenges,” Staley says. “I took the job two weeks later.”
In 2008, Staley was hired by South Carolina. The Basketball Hall of Famer has led the Gamecocks to seven NCAA Final Four appearances in the past 10 tournaments.
Despite starting her coaching career with “no coaching experience,” Staley says her mindset remains, “Whatever I decide to do, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”
“I have really good discernment with people and how to navigate and get to the crux of who they are,” Staley explains, addressing why she’s had so much coaching success. “I meet them where they are and then, hopefully, I can take them where they want to go.”
When it comes to her players, Staley says she aims to provide “what I got when I grew up.”
Crediting her success to North Philly
Staley credits her roots, having been raised in North Philadelphia, for her success as both a player and a coach.
“I’m deeply rooted in where I grew up, which is the projects of North Philly,” Staley says. “And I’m always specific when I say that because everyone that looks from the outside into the projects probably only sees bleakness and crime and poverty. Whereas, when you’re in it, you see so much differently than that.”
I am favored by God with how my life has ended up.
Dawn staley
She continues, “I saw character-building traits. I saw discipline. I saw camaraderie. I saw community. I saw togetherness. All of those things I believe are deeply rooted in who I am as a person and as someone that was completely grounded.”
The coach discusses in her book her mom Estelle Staley’s impact on her ability to lead and find success. After her mom died in 2017, Staley and her siblings started a group chat where they remember the “mommyisms” that contributed to their character, she says.
For Staley, she says her mom encouraged her to find resilience in the face of challenges, telling her, “It’s tough, but let’s move on.”
She says her mom led her to think, “So what? Nothing should ever affect you to the point where you stay in this one place for a long time.”
Staley says she believes her mom “had the strength of 10 men.” Though Estelle Staley didn’t graduate from high school, Staley says she remembers her mom was “so equipped with worldly things.”
“Everybody should get an education. But not getting an education should not stifle your learning,” she adds. “That’s what I learned from my mother.”
With her upbringing, Staley adds that becoming one of the winningest coaches in collegiate basketball today “doesn’t happen to everybody.”
“The name of my book is ‘Uncommon Favor’ for a reason,” Staley says. “I am favored by God with how my life has ended up.”
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