NCAA Basketball: NC State at South Carolina – Source: Imagn

On Saturday, HighlightHER’s Ari Chambers posted a humorous video on X showing South Carolina’s head coach, Dawn Staley. In the clip, Chambers could be seen lightly touching Staley, prompting the coach to ignore her.

In the clip, Staley calmly walked away, tablet in hand, unbothered. Embracing the lighthearted moment where she ‘touches the GOAT,’ Chambers captioned the clip:

“Lol, DAWNIEEEE will never know peace with me EVER. Follow our shenanigans on TikTok @dawnstaley.”

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Despite the Gamecocks pulling off a 68-62 victory on November 5 against Michigan, the performance fell short of Staley’s expectations. Following a 38-0 season and a national championship, the Gamecocks returned to the court this year.

Dawn Staley focuses on rallying her team

It was a narrow win over Michigan, as the team finished 20-14 last season. With that, they revealed gaps in South Carolina’s game, which Staley attributed to a lack of preparation. After the game, Staley sent her message to the players.

“We weren’t that team—we haven’t been that team in a very long time,” she told reporters.”

Instead, Staley identified a lack of commitment to the mindset and habits that had brought them success. She said:

“That wasn’t rust—that was just us not approaching the game, probably the right way that we need to approach it. It was just not us. It wasn’t the habits that we created.”

In response, the team came together for a discussion where each player openly addressed their performance and mindset. According to Staley, this conversation proved valuable, and the team followed it up with strong practices in the days after.

In the interview, Staley also shared that the team responded well in the meeting. The coach once had a dream, which looked very different from her current reality. Now celebrated as one of the most influential coaches in women’s college basketball with three national championships, Staley shared how, as a young girl, she once dreamed of playing in the NBA.

“There wasn’t an outlet when I was growing up,” Staley said after South Carolina’s victory over NC State on Sunday 10th November 2024. “My goals and dream were to play in the NBA. The WNBA wasn’t thought about.”

By the time the WNBA was launched in 1997, Staley had already graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 and was well on her way to becoming a respected athlete.

Staley later joined the WNBA in 1999 as the ninth overall pick, joining Charlotte Sting. As a child, Staley was captivated by the big stages where basketball was played.

“I wanted to play in the Olympics. The Olympics, national championship, and NBA were where I saw most of my basketball growing up,” she explained. “And I only saw a woman play in two of those events—Olympics and national championship. Those were my goals, to be a gold medalist and a national champion.”

As a player, Dawn Staley earned three Olympic gold medals with Team USA, and she later added a fourth gold as a coach during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.