South Carolina coach Dawn Staley once helped A’ja Wilson deal with boy problems in college (Image Source: IMAGN)

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has handled her players’ issues as if she was acting like a second parent to them in college.

In a blog piece published on the Rising Coaches website in May 2023, Staley cited an incident when a heartbroken A’ja Wilson was looking for a shoulder to cry on after she broke up with her boyfriend.

Like any other parent, Staley was there for her star player, whom she treated as her child, like her teammates. She listened to Wilson’s sentiments and advised her on what to do.

“She used to come to my office and sit down to talk,” Staley wrote of the former Gamecocks superstar turned three-time WNBA Most Valuable Player.

“One day, she broke up with her boyfriend and couldn’t move. She was stuck. I am like ‘OK, tell me about him. We will talk.’ I told her what is going to happen is you are going to be back with him next week right? So let’s go ahead and give this your moment to cry. But you will be back with him next week. It’s not a bad thing,” she added.

Staley has maintained a close bond with her players since the first day they stepped on campus. She always told them that she could greatly help them if they allowed her into their personal lives, not just in basketball.

“Some people think it’s a bad thing allowing a coach to know your heart is broken, like we don’t know it by your play on the court or reflected in your grades. You are just not verbalizing it, but you are showing it,” the three-time champion coach wrote in the blog.

Wilson has become the best player Staley’s program has ever produced. In 2017, she helped the Gamecocks win their first women’s national basketball title and was also chosen as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

She continued her exploits in the WNBA, where she has helped the Las Vegas Aces win two WNBA titles and dozens of individual accolades.

Dawn Staley’s presence in South Carolina helps Gamecocks stay in the national championship race

Dawn Staley has guided South Carolina to three national championships between 2017 and 2024. This includes last season’s conquest, during which the Gamecocks went 38-0 and won the national title over the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes.

Staley’s patience and more than a decade of experience as a coach and former player have worked during her stay with the Gamecocks since 2008. Her wisdom has led South Carolina to 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances (excluding 2019-20 due to COVID-19) since the 2012-13 season.

Staley hopes to carry her team to a back-to-back title and fourth national women’s college basketball championship this season.