South Carolina women's basketball's Dawn Staley makes history with SLAM Magazine cover
COLUMBIA — Dawn Staley made history. Again.
SLAM Magazine released a Dawn Staley's cover story on Thursday, making her the first coach to have a solo cover with the magazine. It was the first appearance in SLAM for Staley since 2022 when shared the cover with Aliyah Boston, Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke.
Coaches have frequently joined players on the cover of SLAM but never alone until Staley.
Staley became the first ever Black head coach in Division I basketball to win multiple NCAA championships when the Gamecocks won the program's third national title on April 7. Staley is also the first Black coach to finish the season undefeated.
In April, Staley also won her fourth Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Award. It was Staley’s third consecutive year winning the award and her fourth time in five years.
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Dawn Staley and A'ja Wilson
On Wednesday night, Gamecocks legend and now Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson wore a T-shirt with an image of Staley's SLAM cover to the Aces game in Minnesota.
Wilson was part of South Carolina's first national championship team in 2017, the first for Staley as well. Wilson is a two-time WNBA MVP and two-time WNBA champion with the Aces. She joined her WNBA teammates in a preseason game in Colonial Life Arena on May 11 vs Team Puerto Rico. Staley was heavily involved in the game day festivities.
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Dawn Staley on her legacy
When asked in the SLAM story about her legacy, Staley's immediate answer was simple.
"I want my legacy to be an 'odds beater.' I am an odds beater," she told SLAM's Lauren Dreher.
Staley coached an Olympic team, she was an Olympic athlete and went to NCAA Final Fours as a player before she did as a coach. Her extensive resume is ongoing and historic, but she said she just wants to do right by her players.
"To have coached 24 years in this game, I know that I don’t care about a personal legacy. I want to let my players talk about the legacy that they were able to feel every day from our coaching staff," Staley said in SLAM Magazine.
Dawn Staley wants to be a Hall of Famer
To conclude her interview with SLAM, Staley admitted that she has one goal left to accomplish which is getting inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. In 2013, she was inducted as a player.
"Selfishly, it’s just one thing that I wanted out of this game: I wanted to be a Hall of Famer," Staley said.
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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin