Dawn Staley speaks her mind, and she wants her players to do the same. The Naismith Hall of Famer is a dynamic leader and effective communicator who teaches and motivates from a place of experience.
In the midst of leading South Carolina through a challenging SEC schedule, Staley opened up to TOWN in 2025 about what it takes to win, how she empowers players, tips for overcoming challenges, and how she recharges.
One on One with Dawn Staley
Hi, Coach! I know you value efficient time management, so, I’m going to jump right in. Has your approach to the game of basketball changed at all from your days as a player to being a coach?
Dawn Staley: There isn’t anybody that has created something that somebody else hasn’t done. It’s all about how you utilize your basketball brain to implement and execute when you need it executed right.
What’s driving your success at South Carolina?
For my entire career, I’ve had an incredible way of meeting young people where they are and being totally inclusive to their needs and all the people that they need in their lives in order for them to operate in the space where they are free.
You’re a very effective motivator. Are there specific things you say to get the best out of your players?
A big one is ‘keep the main thing the main thing.’ I try to give our players very simple guides that apply to not just basketball, but life. I give them my life mottos; I have two of them. One of them is ‘The disciplined person can do anything,’ and I also tell them that you could be disciplined to do something that is good for you [or] you could be disciplined for something that’s negative and not good for you. My other life motto is: You have to do what you don’t want to do to get what you want. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. We all have goals. We all have dreams. We all got these things we want, but are you willing to sacrifice to get them? There are choices that you gotta make in order for you to get what you want. Many players want to be a pro. What that takes is creating pro habits. Middle school students have to create high school habits. Everybody’s gotta create a habit for their next goal, and if you don’t do that, you’re not sacrificing something.
When you see a player isn’t making the sacrifices needed to achieve their goals, how do you handle that?
I let them know. I don’t hold back, because I might be the only person that will give them the truth.
In college sports, do you ever have to advise a player’s parents about that, too?
Yes. I do. Parents don’t want their kids to hurt. They’ll do anything for them not to cry. They’ll do anything for them to have the things they want in life, and I want those things for them too, but I don’t mind them hurting because I try to get them to understand, it’s a process and a journey and everything you do and everything that you want, it’s not a straight trajectory up. Things don’t go that way. It’s human nature [to wonder] whether or not they picked the right school, the right coach, because it’s not what they envisioned. People don’t envision shortcomings. People don’t envision uncomfortable learning. Everything in a vision is feel-good stuff. Then, what you have to deal with in reality, it hurts. It hurts to your core, but when you come out of it, it’s something beautiful; it is quite incredible!
And by that point, the results speak for themselves.
Yes, they do.
Your teams are recognized for their resilience and a collective toughness, both mentally and physically. [After Texas lost to Staley’s Gamecocks 67-50 in Columbia on January 12, Texas head coach Vic Schaefer praised Staley’s team, calling them “really tough” and noting their “competitive spirit.”] How do you build a culture of toughness with your team?
It’s building trust, with generations really. Daughters are one generation, parents are another generation. And I find that parents, now, are younger than me. I’m a different era from them. If this is my 25th year, then I’ve seen pretty much everything you could see. You’re not gonna say or do anything to me that hasn’t been said or done to me. All of my life experiences as a coach will allow me to make good decisions and say the right things to the family, to their daughter, their sister-communities. You know we have three local kids?
Yes. [Junior Ashlyn Watkins and Guard MiLaysia Fulwiley are from Columbia, South Carolina; forward Joyce Edwards is from nearby Camden.]
Everybody wants to see them do well and only do well. Not the process. Not [having] a bad week, or a bad month on the court—they don’t want to see that. So, there’s pressure from all over the place. They’re not the only ones that feel the pressure. I feel the pressure of having to play them. I feel the pressure of not wanting our kids to fail in front of their community, especially our local kids.
That’s a lot of pressure to deal with, especially with all the other responsibilities of being the head coach. How do you manage it all?
With communication. I take on all that. If someone has an issue—a parent, a trainer—bring it to me. I’m the one that can explain the decisions that I make on a game-by-game basis. I don’t mind that. Some coaches mind it. I don’t mind.
What is more difficult? Building a program to a championship caliber, or maintaining that level of success season after season?
It’s really just a cycle of meeting people where they are; it really is. It changes from day to day. If a young lady on my team wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, I’m gonna meet [her] there. Right side of the bed, I’m gonna let you be, but if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, I gotta let you know, ‘Hey, not the right side of bed today, huh?’ And then, we address it. I just want to make sure I communicate what’s needed at any given time, and I want whatever they’re going through to go through it in the shortest period of time by communicating. Sometimes, you have to verbalize what you’re going through at any given moment to the people that you’re around. Raven [junior guard Raven Johnson] has sometimes zoned out on us. She’ll say, ‘I can’t pay attention.’ She’s very aware of it, but I want her to tell me. No matter what it is, I want them to have a voice. I want them to be unafraid to communicate their thoughts and feelings. When you don’t say anything, you leave it to other people to assume things about you, and they will make decisions for you because you’re not saying anything. I think that is more powerful than anything, the ability to communicate.
What are the biggest struggles players face today?
Our players, they’re in a different world right now. They have to deal with so many distractions.
More than you did when you played?
Oh, I couldn’t operate in this space. I would make a lot of people mad, because I’m really strong-willed. If something looks, sounds, or feels off, I’m addressing it and moving on. I’m not gonna sit around and waste time and waste people’s time, or I’m gonna completely ignore it. It will be dead to me. Situations would be dead to me.
How do you get your players to know what to pay attention to, and what to block out?
I don’t ask them to do that. I just deal with what they have to deal with when they’re dealing with it. They’re used to multitasking. Sometimes, they stray in practice. And I know, a lightbulb goes off, and you’ve probably only got 15 to 20 minutes with them. So, I’ll put a time on the clock and say, ‘this all we got right here,’ and that usually gets them to focus. If we gotta eliminate 25 minutes from this practice, let me pick and choose what’s most important. We’re really good at that as coaches.
How do you think this year’s SEC tournament will be different from recent ones?
Our league is stronger than it was. It’s harder. When you add Oklahoma and Texas to what, I feel, is the top conference in the country already, it is tougher. It’s a dog fight, but that’s why we schedule who we schedule in the nonconference, and that’s why we play every team in our conference. We get to know who they are and increase our chances of winning.
Do you have a favorite place to eat, or place you like to go in Greenville?
When I’m at the tournament, I don’t get the chance to go out a whole lot, but I will say this, it’s a beautiful city. We walk around the bridge. I’ve gone down on the rocks in the water. We did a program retreat there and did a scavenger hunt around the city, which was pretty cool. I enjoy the city of Greenville.
How do you relax and recharge?
I like to be home. I watch games a lot. I love watching basketball. I watch football. I’m a TV buff; I can watch three things at the same time in one room.
What gets you mentally prepared for practice, or a big game?
I like to walk. If I can get in a six-mile walk, it clears my mind. It allows me enough space to create. I do my best work once I’ve had a walk.
Are you thinking about anything specific while you’re walking?
I think about each and every player. I can think about what we need to do in time and space to be more efficient.
Do you walk on campus?
I live two miles from campus, so there’s about a six-mile route that I take that takes me through the heart of campus.
I bet you get stopped a lot walking through campus while you’re trying to think.
Yes, I do, but that’s part of how we get [games] to sell out.
I’m glad you brought that up. South Carolina’s average attendance is the highest in women’s basketball this century. TV ratings are at an all-time high. We’re seeing exciting growth in the women’s game at every level of the sport right now. What needs to happen to keep the positive momentum going?
It’s not about the product. The product is sound. The players that we have in our game are incredibly talented. It’s more about the decision-makers, the people who are going to continue to put us on TV. It’s about them creating storylines. We know they can do it; it’s about if they wanna do it, and that’s always been the question.
Hot Ticket
Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks will compete in the 2025 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, March 5–9.
Dawn Staley Career Highlights
As a Player
- Awarded the Naismith College Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992
- Won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA (1996, 2000, 2004)
- WNBA All-Star six consecutive times from 2001 to 2006
- First USA Basketball Olympic Flag Bearer in 2004
- Named to the WNBA’s All-Decade Team in 2006
- Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013
As a Coach
- Led the South Carolina Gamecocks to three NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships (2017, 2022, 2024)
- Coached the USA Women’s Basketball Team to a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Won the Naismith Coach of the Year Award four times (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- Guided South Carolina to eight Southeastern Conference regular season championships and eight SEC Tournament championships
- FIBA Hall of Fame inductee 2025
The only person to win the Naismith Award as both a player and a coach
