Player’s coach: How Khadijah Sessions is uplifting South Carolina WBB in her new role

Sania Feagin’s favorite memory of Khadijah Sessions came before her first season on South Carolina’s coaching staff started.

Just after USC announced Sessions’ hiring in July, Feagin made her Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League debut for team B.A.N.S. Across the court was Sessions with team Lady Fire. While both were part of the Gamecocks women’s basketball sorority, they were opponents that day.

That was until Feagin went down with a cramp. Sessions rushed over to check on the rising junior, refusing to leave her side until Feagin walked off the court of her own volition.

That is who Sessions is. Fiercely loyal. Sincerely invested in the success of those she loves. And that includes the women on South Carolina’s current roster.

She is often the first person off USC’s bench, sometimes to applaud the Gamecocks’ hustle, sometimes to advocate for a more favorable whistle. But always with unbridled effervescence. Her passion for basketball and compassion for the players have helped make way for one of the most impressive seasons in program history.

Originally, though, Sessions had no interest in coaching women’s basketball.

Sure, she played at South Carolina (2013-16), helping guide the Gamecocks to three SEC regular-season championships, two SEC tournament titles and their first-ever NCAA Final Four in 2015. But she saw herself involved in the men’s game. She thought her in-your-face, self-described “aggressor” approach to training young hoopers would work better there. And infiltrating the men’s ranks would put her in the trailblazing company of women such as Becky Hammon, Kristi Toliver and Candice Dupree.

But then Dawn Staley called.

Sessions’ former college coach had reached out to her before last summer about joining South Carolina’s coaching staff (since Sessions graduated in 2016, Staley has added Jolette Law in 2017, Mary Wooley in 2022 and Winston Gandy in 2023). But Sessions declined with a polite, “Thanks for thinking of me,” and returned to training. When Staley called again (after the NCAA passed legislation in January to increase college basketball coaching staffs), Sessions took 2 and a half weeks to think about it.

It would have been an automatic “no” had the offer come from anyone else in the women’s game. Only Staley was worth veering off the path Sessions had determined for herself, believing at that point that training was her true calling.

But there was the homecoming aspect. The otherwise hard-to-come-by learning opportunity. And the ability to say she was part of Staley’s coaching tree — an entry in Sessions’ resume that would jump off the page.

“I was just like, ‘You know what, I think this right here may be the best opportunity for me if I want to get to the next step,’ ” Sessions told The State. “It’s levels to it. Just being under her alone can get you to a lot of places. I’m just like, ‘Why not?’ ”

When Sessions graduated with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality, restaurant and tourism management in 2016, she was desperate to stay connected to the game she loved. She had a short professional hoops career, playing a partial season in Finland until a knee injury brought her back to the United States for rehab. She went on to call some games with the SEC Network and even thought about becoming a referee.

While she’s now part of USC’s program in a different capacity than she was eight years ago, her energy in practice and on the bench in games is the same. And that’s how the players like it.

“When she’s on, she’s on,” Feagin said, smiling so hard you could hear it in her voice. “She pushes us. When we’re down, she brings our energy up. She’s a lovable person. She’s good to be around.”

Sessions can’t be low-key. Even if she wanted to. The team won’t let her.

“Because we know she can bring the energy,” Feagin said. “We know she has good energy. Like, ‘All right, Khadijah! Let me hear your energy. You low. What’s going on? You OK?’ We bring her back up so she can be on us.”

The very thing Sessions thought made her ill-equipped to coach women’s basketball is exactly what’s made her so good for USC. And so loved by women’s basketball fans.

Sessions went viral during the SEC Tournament for her reaction to center Kamilla Cardoso’s last-second game-winner (and first career 3-pointer) against Tennessee in the semifinals. While the rest of the team swarmed Cardoso in celebration, Sessions sprinted past everyone across the court, unable to contain her excitement.

A’ja Wilson — South Carolina legend and Sessions’ former teammate — commented under a post about her viral moment on Instagram: “If you know her fr you know this is so Khadijah,” with three laughing face emojis.