South Carolina women's basketball has been fortunate to have head coach Dawn Staley at the helm for the past 17 years.
Staley has three national championships, 462 career wins, and lifelong impact on the growth and popularity of women's basketball — and she won't be leaving any time soon.
The University of South Carolina board of trustees announced on Jan. 17 that it would be extending the contract of Staley through the 2029-30 season. The contract makes Staley the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball.
The contract will have an annual base salary of $4 million, a bump up from the $3.1 million Staley was originally making annually. Staley will make a total of $25.25 million by the time the contract expires, including a $500,000 signing bonus and an annual $250,000 escalator.
For Staley, the new contract does not feel like a gift, but something she earned.
“Rewarded is a hard word for me because it’s earned,” Staley said. “When you’ve done what you’re supposed to do and well above what you’re supposed to do, you should be paid accordingly.”
Staley’s increase in wage surpasses LSU’s Kim Mulkey and UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who make $3.2 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
Staley's extension is no surprise, coming off her third national championship in just seven years. She has coached South Carolina to seven seasons of at least 30 wins, and her three championships are tied for third all-time with Baylor University and Stanford University. Only the University of Connecticut and the University of Tennessee have won more championships as a program, with 11 and eight, respectively.
“We play to a certain standard,” Staley said. “I do think when you’re able to get a raise like this, it’s to your standard.”
Staley is perhaps coming off her most impressive season yet to lead toward the contract extension, taking the 2023-24 Gamecocks to a perfect 38-0 record en route to the national championship. The perfect campaign for Staley's Gamecocks was just the tenth time in the history of women's college basketball of a team having an undefeated season.
“She just wins,” said Brad Muller, Director of Content for University of South Carolina Athletics and play-by-play voice of the Gamecocks women's basketball team. “Wherever she’s been as a player and a coach, she wins, and it’s just been an incredible ride.”
Turning South Carolina into a powerhouse
Staley’s success began well before the University of South Carolina hired her in 2008, but during her days as a point guard at the University of Virginia. In four years with the Cavaliers, Staley won the Naismith College Player of the Year award twice, in 1991 and 1992. Staley later entered the Naismith Hall of Fame for her career as a player in 2013.
Her eight-year WNBA career overlapped with her time as the women's basketball coach of Temple University, where she had winning seasons seven of the eight years she spent with the Owls. Her success with Temple was enough to land her the job with South Carolina.
Since her tenure with South Carolina began, Staley has won four USBWA National Coach of the Year awards, four Naismith Coach of the Year awards and seven SEC Coach of the Year awards.
As for her teams, Staley has led the Gamecocks to three national championships and six Final Fours. She has also taken the team to the Women's College Basketball NCAA Tournament every season since she led South Carolina to its first campaign with 25 wins in the 2011-12 season.
“That kind of spring-boarded everything to getting better players,” Muller said. “That team, to me, really started it all with how they played.”
Current South Carolina assistant coach Khadijah Sessions joined the program as a player in the following 2012-13 season. As a three-year starter for the Gamecocks, Sessions was a member of the first team to make the Final Four in South Carolina women's basketball history in her junior year.
"It was an awesome feeling just to be a part of history with her," Sessions said. "To see where this program is now, I knew once we did it once she could get past that and just keep on knocking doors down."
Sessions also described the impact Staley had on her as a player and how she molded her into the person she is.
"She helped me just grow as an individual person and human," said Sessions. "To understand discipline and sacrifice and what it takes to grow in this work, and that just helped me on the court as well."
Staley's winning ways would not slow down following her first Final Four appearance. Since 2017, Staley has won three national championships, coached two players to the National Player of the Year and sat at No. 1 on the AP Poll for two straight seasons from 2021-2023.
“She’s raised the bar so high that you kind of get spoiled by it. And you don’t want to imagine what it’s going to be like when she’s gone because it’s going to be so hard to follow it up,” Muller said. “Nobody wants to be the one that follows up greatness, right?”
Staley adds the FIBA Hall of Fame to her long list of awards
In addition to her new contract, Staley was announced as a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame class of 2025 on Jan. 16 for her storied history as a player and coach for Team USA women's basketball.
FIBA, The International Basketball Federation, organizes basketball in the quadrennial Summer Olympics while hosting the FIBA Basketball World Cup every four years.
“I don’t become a Hall of Famer without having the teammates that I’ve had,” Staley said. “I didn’t score a whole lot of points … I probably had more assists than I did points. But to be in the FIBA Hall of Fame, that’s worldwide."
Staley is joined by legendary Team USA men’s basketball coach and longtime Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski as the only coaches to be a part of the 2025 class.
“It’s neat because this won’t be the only time she’s a two-timer in the hall of fame,” Muller said. “When she’s done coaching, she will be in the Naismith Hall of Fame as well as a coach. She’s already in as a player.”
Continued efforts, 'fighting' for growth of women's sports
Throughout her career as both a player and a coach, Staley has been an advocate for the growth of women's sports, more specifically women's basketball.
Staley said her contract is not only representative of the development of women's sports, but showcasing the capability of women in any professional field.
"I do think it represents what can be in other professions that women, for whatever reason, are not paid for doing the same type of work,” Staley said. “I think this is an example of what it can look like, feel like, sound like, and I hope everybody’s happy about it for what it represents because it’s only the right thing to do.”
In 2023-24, the NCAA women's college basketball regular season saw a 37% increase in viewership from the year before. The Gamecocks were a part of the most-watched regular season game last season when they traveled to LSU in January 2024, logging 1.6 million viewers across ESPN platforms.
“You can’t put a price on what that kind of attention means,” Muller said. “It’s hard to put a dollar value of what it means to have your program constantly in the spotlight.”
The game continues to grow with the more attention it receives, with more talented players year-by-year and more excitement following. Muller praised Staley for her ability to keep up with the rapid growth of the sport and keep her team at the top.
“It’s neat to see her succeed at a time when women’s basketball has probably never been better,” Muller said. “And again, this is what she promised and she delivered.”
Staley brings her impact on the sport back to Columbia, where she has brought in a top-two recruiting class in the nation four different times. Her most recent top recruiting class was headlined by freshman forward Joyce Edwards, the former No. 1 recruit in South Carolina.
Sessions attributed the atmosphere and the winning culture that Staley creates to the draw for top recruits to come play for South Carolina.
"She lets you know you're going to be a better person as well as a better player," Sessions said. "If you want to be a pro, this is the place for you to come."
Sessions said that the advocacy for the sport is nothing new from Staley and that she's been "fighting" for growth for a long time.
"She's been fighting since I met her to take women's sports to the next level," Sessions said. "Her story is real, but she's been fighting before she even had this type of fame with this type of money."
Muller said Staley's pursuit for the growth of young women in sports stems from her desire to continue winning championships and growing her legacy as a coach.
"Yes, she wants to win. She's as competitive a person as you'll ever see," said Muller. "But I think just as important as for her team winning is growing the game to create more opportunities for young women."
Staley remains consistent with that message. She is not the coach of South Carolina women's basketball because of the money she makes, but because of her success as a talented coach and her hard work.
“I have never been driven by money at all,” Staley said. “I think money is the byproduct of your success and your ability to work hard and be successful when you’re in your space.”