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Dawn Staley has been a monumental presence in women’s college basketball and the WNBA for decades now. However, Staley recently discussed how her goals differed from when she was growing up, and the three-time national championship-winning coach revealed she once hoped to play in the NBA.

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

The WNBA debuted in 1997, five years after Staley graduated from Virginia in 1992. Staley eventually joined the league in 1999 as the No. 9 overall pick by the now defunct Charlotte Sting.

As a child, Staley simply craved to be a part of all the exciting stuff basketball could offer.

“I wanted to play in the Olympics. The Olympics, national championship and NBA is where I saw most of my basketball growing up,” Staley said. “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.”

Staley eventually earned three gold medals while playing for Team USA. She added one more when she coached the Americans during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

While Staley didn’t win a national title at Virginia, the Cavaliers made the Final Four three times while she was there, and they were the runner-ups in the 1991 NCAA Tournament. Staley was the Naismith College Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992.

Staley’s career as a coach finally gave her the national title she dreamed of as a kid, and now she is at the helm of a budding dynasty with the Gamecocks. She led South Carolina to tiles in 2017, 2022 and again in 2024. The Gamecocks are currently on a 40-game winning streak as they finished last season with a perfect 38-0 record. South Carolina has only lost three games in the past three years, so Staley is definitely enjoying the best of what women’s basketball can offer.

However, Staley is happy to see women have more opportunities in basketball, and said the sport’s growth is better than anything she could’ve hoped for as a kid.

“Nowadays, young people have goals of making it to the WNBA… All of their lives, there has been a WNBA. For them, they are lifting our sport,” Staley said. “Whatever I could have imagined, I don’t think it could have turned out as beautiful as what we are experiencing right now.”