Dawn Michelle Staley (born May 4, 1970) [1] is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team.

She is the only Gamecock basketball coach – men’s or women’s – to amass 300 victories at South Carolina and became the fastest coach to 200 wins in program history, needing just 277 games at South Carolina to reach the plateau.

Dawn Staley has helped change women’s college basketball, and she hopes to keep up the success. At only 53 years old, the South Carolina Gamecocks will enjoy the success that Staley brings for years to come.

Apr 8, 2024 · With her third national championship win, Dawn Staley has firmly established herself in the pantheon of the greatest NCAA women’s basketball coaches in history.

May 10, 2024 · South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley had a lot to celebrate on her 54th birthday May 4. In nearly 25 years of coaching collegiate basketball Staley has earned three national titles in seven years and catapulted the Gamecocks from a middle-of-the-pack SEC team to a national powerhouse program for women’s basketball.

Jan 27, 2025 · Staley won her first national championship in 2017, solidifying South Carolina as one of the dynasty programs in college basketball. Two more national titles, in 2022 and 2024, have flung the 54-year-old to the heights of her career, not only in women’s college basketball but in general sports culture.

Apr 4, 2024 · CLEVELAND (AP) — Dawn Staley did a masterful job guiding a young South Carolina team back to the Final Four with an undefeated record for the second straight season. Staley was honored Thursday as The Associated Press women’s college basketball Coach of the Year for the second time.

Jan 17, 2025 · South Carolina announced Friday that Staley has agreed to sign a contract extension that will keep her as head coach of its women's basketball program through the 2029-30 season.

Apr 8, 2024 · Head coach Dawn Staley's proverbial cup "runneth over" on the court Sunday, overcome with emotion after she led the South Carolina women's basketball team to its third NCAA title.

Nov 30, 2021 · Staley came to a South Carolina team that had largely struggled, often finishing among the worst teams in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Staley’s arrival would mark a dramatic change in the fortunes of the Gamecocks women’s basketball program.