South Carolina women's basketball's Dawn Staley named Naismith Coach of the Year for fourth time

CLEVELAND – For the fourth time, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year.

Staley was announced as this season's winner of the award Wednesday ahead of this weekend's Final Four. It is Staley’s third consecutive year winning the award, and her fourth time winning it in five years.

"To be undefeated, to win awards like this – so unexpected," Staley said. "I welcome it. There are plenty of times where I think we should have won a national championship, but we didn't. This is somewhat of a repayment when you get stuff that you really don't expect to get."

Only UConn’s Geno Auriemma and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt have won the award more than Staley, at eight and five times, respectively.

"It's awesome because I do consider them the legends of our game," Staley said. "They have held the reign for a long time and they're still so highly respected in our sport. ... They recruited me. To be in the same breath during the time they're still coaching is awesome."

Staley has led the Gamecocks to a 36-0 record and a Final Four appearance for the second consecutive year, despite entering this season with an entirely new starting five after last season’s went to the WNBA Draft.

South Carolina has been the No. 1 team in the polls since the second week of the season.

Senior center Kamilla Cardoso was a finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Stanford forward Cameron Brink was selected as the winner.

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No. 1 South Carolina will tip off against No. 3 NC State (31-6) in the Final Four on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

"I'm really not focused on these awards," Staley said. "I just want one thing. One thing. It starts on Friday."

Evan Gerike covers South Carolina women's basketball for the Greenville News. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike.