Wednesday afternoon in downtown Columbia, S.C., a statue will be unveiled to honor Dawn Staley, the adopted daughter and coach of the city. It will stand nearly equidistant between the Gamecocks’ basketball arena and the South Carolina state house, which is fitting given how much she has meant to women’s basketball in the state and across the country. Most apropos is that the statue will be forged by fire, an analogy perfectly befitting Staley and her journey to this pinnacle.
Raised in North Philadelphia, Staley has never taken the easy road, but the common denominator between her teams and programs is one thing: They win. As a high school phenom at Dobbins, a Virginia point guard, an Olympic team player and coach, an ABL and WNBA star and as a coach (though she spent six years both coaching at Temple and playing in the WNBA).
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When she took over Temple in 2000, the program had just one NCAA Tournament appearance. The Owls won the Atlantic 10 tournament title in Staley’s second year to ensure an automatic bid before making the tournament another five times and finishing with at least 20 wins in six of her eight seasons — a task that had been accomplished only twice at Temple in seven decades of existence.
In 17 seasons at South Carolina, Staley has erected a program and a fanbase that, before she stepped on campus, had been past the second round of the NCAA Tournament only three times. She managed to best that history in her first eight years on campus. In her ninth year, the Gamecocks won their first national title.
She’s won two more since and led the Gamecocks back to the national championship game last season. For the 11th consecutive year, South Carolina led the nation in attendance, turning out a rabid fanbase that calls themselves “FAMS” and refers to Colonial Life Arena (rightfully so) as “The House that Dawn Built.”
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At each stop, Staley elevated not just play on the floor, but those around her — inside and outside of her programs. She’s just as likely to refer to herself as a “dream merchant” as a “coach,” most days. That exists not just for her own players but for others across the country whose paths she crosses — coaches, women and competitors. When she won her first national championship with South Carolina in 2017, Staley sent pieces of the championship net to every Black female head coach in the country, paying forward a gesture that Carolyn Peck, the first Black head coach to win a national championship at Purdue in 1999, did for Staley when she arrived at South Carolina.
When Staley negotiated for equal pay to her counterpart — South Carolina men’s basketball coach — women’s basketball was fighting, in the wake of the NCAA bubble seasons, for long overdue equal opportunity and footing in the NCAA and on their own campuses. She consistently speaks loudly on opportunity and equity for women athletes and Black women in the space, at a time when the game has received more attention than ever.
Even when Staley refers to her players as kids at “Dawn’s Daycare,” many consider her a mother-like figure who has reflected to them a drive and persistence that has helped them in their own careers.
“As I look up in the rafters and see my jersey, I’m reminded of how important it is to chase your dreams without fear,” WNBA star and Gamecocks alumna A’ja Wilson said at her jersey retirement last season. “The person who taught me that and is still teaching me is Dawn Staley. Thank you, Coach, for seeing the light in me even when I couldn’t see it in myself and for showing me that it’s not about the destination, but the journey and the people you meet along the way.”
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With a statue in her likeness, Staley joins a short list of women’s basketball coaches with one on or near their college programs, including Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw — two women who put their programs on the map and helped elevate the sport. There are undoubtedly already conversations about statues to come for Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and UConn’s Geno Auriemma, too.
But Staley, who has coached at South Carolina less than half the amount of time those coaches did (or have coached) at their schools, is among the Mount Rushmore debate, which is telling for what she has accomplished in such a short amount of time at South Carolina.
At 54, Staley could have plenty of seasons ahead on the sideline, if that’s what she wants. Certainly, masses of players coming up in the game now — players whose perspectives of women’s basketball have been shaped by who she is in this moment but also knowing that the game has evolved because of her path — who hope to compete for the legendary coach.
With all the wins under her belt, trophies and title nets in the Gamecocks’ awards case, Staley didn’t need this statue to cement her legacy in Columbia or in women’s basketball. But one forged by fire will stand as she still roams the sidelines, a testament to Staley’s journey.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Women’s College Basketball
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