Dawn M. Staley

Dawn Staley is the Head Coach of the University of South Carolina women's basketball team. Since thrusting South Carolina into the national spotlight when she was hired in May 2008, Staley has made the Gamecocks a mainstay in the battle for SEC and national championships. She is a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as a player. Staley is one of only five head coaches with at least three women’s basketball National Championships and the only Black basketball head coach with multiple national titles, one of five head coaches to lead an undefeated team to a National Championship, and the first Black head coach of the USA Basketball Senior National Team.

Staley is recognized for her work beyond basketball, and her leadership in the community continues to yield accolades. In 2023, the City of Columbia announced plans to erect a statue of Staley, which was installed in April 2025 on Senate Street a short distance from the Gamecocks’ home arena to honor her commitment to leadership, community empowerment and uplifting future generations as much as her coaching legacy. Her autobiography Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three was published in May 2025 and became a New York Times bestseller, rising to No. 2 on the Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction list shortly after it was published. The Dawn Staley Leadership Academy is a professional development program at the University of South Carolina's College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management.