Dawn Staley Is Among The Highest Paid Coaches In Women's College Basketball

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Dawn Staley is the head women’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, and her team is on an impressive winning streak right now.

While the 53-year-old is getting plenty of props right now for her 17-0 season, she’s also an incredibly talented athlete in her own right.

But who is Dawn Staley and what’s her background in sports? Here’s what you need to know.

She was high school player of the year during her senior year.

Dawn was named as USA Today’s National High School Player of the year in 1988 when she was a senior at Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia—a huge honor. Dawn never lost a game in high school, USA Today reports.

She played basketball at UVA.

After her impressive high school career, the point guard played at the University of Virginia for four years. There, she had three trips to the NCAA Final Four and appeared in the championship game in 1991 (and was named Most Outstanding Player in that tournament), according to her official University of South Carolina bio.

In college, Dawn was a two-time National Player of the Year (1991, 1992), three-time Kodak All-American (1990, 1991, 1992), ACC Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992, and the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1989, her bio says.

She was so good that her jersey was retired at UVA.

She’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

Dawn won a gold medal with Team USA in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics, per USA Basketball. Worth noting: Dawn was cut from the 1992 Olympic team. "They told me there were two reasons why I got cut," she told ESPN. "One was I was too short. Two, I didn't have enough international experience.

"I couldn't do anything about my height, but I surely could check off going overseas and playing internationally,” she said.

She went on to play in the WNBA.

Dawn was a big-name player in the WNBA, playing guard for the Charlotte Sting, per her WNBA profile. She was a first round draft pick in 1999.

She coached at Temple University for eight years.

Dawn made her debut as a basketball coach at Temple University and helped her team reach the playoffs seven out of eight seasons. She left the team with a 172-80 record and was the winningest coach in the team’s history, according to her USC bio.

She’s been at USC since 2008.

Dawn went to USC after leaving Temple and has had an impressive track record there. She’s won two national championships at USC and taken her team to five NCAA Final Fours, her bio says.

How old is Dawn Staley?

Dawn is 53 years old.

Is she married?

No, Dawn Staley isn’t married. She’s joked publicly about her assistant coach being her wife, though.

How tall is Dawn?

Dawn is 5 feet six inches, according to her WNBA stats. “My stature has never been an issue,” she told WHYY in 2022. “I command a lot of things in any situation that I’m in. I don’t think leadership comes from your stature. Leadership comes from the ability to know what decisions to make in any situation.”

What is her salary and net worth?

In 2021, Dawn signed a seven-year, $22.4 million contract with the University of South Carolina, per Knox News. The deal will pay her $2.9 million per season. The contract marked an $800,000 raise for Dawn and made her the highest paid Black coach in women's basketball.

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