Dawn Staley | University of South Carolina

2020 Coach of The Year

Catapulting South Carolina into the national spotlight, Dawn Staley has made the Gamecocks a mainstay in the battle for SEC and national championships. In 2017-18, she capped her first decade in Garnet and Black by leading her team to its fourth-straight SEC Tournament title, the first four-peat champion in league history, and celebrating the program’s first National Player of the Year. Staley’s 11 seasons at the helm of the Gamecocks includes 2017 NCAA National Championship,131 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25, including 63 weeks in the top five, Seven 25-win seasons, including three 30-win campaigns led by a school-record 34 victories in 2014-15. Four SEC regular-season championships (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and Four SEC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018). At the helm of the Gamecocks over the last 11 seasons, Staley has won many awards. On April 2, 2020, Staley became the first person to win the Naismith Award as a player, and also as a coach. She was also named WBCA Coach of the Year (2020), National Coach of the Year (2014, Basketball Times),a Naismith National Coach of the Year Finalist (2014, 2015, 2016), SEC Coach of the Year (2014, Coaches and AP; 2015, Coaches; 2016, Coaches and AP) and BCA Female Coach of the Year (2012). She became the fastest coach to 200 wins in program history, needing just 277 games at South Carolina to reach the plateau. Coach Staley is also currently the head coach for the USA National Team.