The 2007–08 season was Dawn Staley’s last season at Temple University in her home city of Philadelphia. She then became the head coach of the South Carolina women’s basketball team.
In the fifteen years since then, Staley has led the Gamecocks to three national titles and lifted the team to heights never seen before.
In her new book, “Uncommon Favor,” Staley writes that in 2005, another SEC school was interested in her.
He wrote, “Alabama came after me first in 2005.”
Alabama asked her to work as a coach at Temple when they called. The Owls had a 28–4 record during the 2004–05 season and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Even though Staley was in the same conference as Alabama, she chose South Carolina because she thought it would be best for her family and career.
“I went to the campus.” I liked the person in charge of sports. “But I just couldn’t picture myself living in Alabama,” she said.
Still, Staley didn’t like the idea of going to Alabama. She said that if she did move to South Carolina, she would still be joining a league where many coaches have had legendary careers.
“The fact that USC was in the SEC and had a long history of women’s basketball drew me there,” Staley wrote. It was in this league that Pat Summitt, Andy Landers, Melanie Balcomb, and all of these famous trainers worked. I wanted to get better at what I did so I could fight with the best. What made it even better was that my parents were from South Carolina.
It was also important to Staley to see her mother Estelle and her brothers again.
A lot of people in Columbia, South Carolina, love Staley. Columbia is the state capital and home of the Gamecocks. A statue of Staley was just revealed on campus by the city.
Because of her troubled family background, Staley thought about how the state welcomed her. They left South Carolina many years ago because of racism and discrimination.
The return was a “full-circle moment” for Staley.
“Time is really strange, isn’t it? “I will never forget the irony that I am doing well in the same state that forced my mother to leave,” Staley wrote. “When I started working at South Carolina, she was able to go back to her home, where she felt like she belonged. It was a full-circle moment made possible by faith, social progress, the civil rights movement, and many other big and small changes.”
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