Two NCAA tournament wins lost. Two to go, starting with this weekend’s Sweet 16 game against Georgia Tech, before the South Carolina women’s basketball team reaches the Final Four in a three-week bracket in San Antonio.
Dawn Staley’s No. 1 seed team belongs to a Texas tourist brochure: the Riverwalk, pottery imported into Historic Market Square, rows of delicious bakery items in Mi Tierra, Aliyah Boston.
A basketball program in search of a second national championship is only part of the draw.
Staley, who started before the tournament started with a statement “I can’t be quiet”, took the opportunity of a national internship to speak up.
Staley led the way to blow up the NCAA through a poor quality weight room setup in San Antonio and other disparities compared to what is available at the Indianapolis men’s tournament.
The NCAA has made several apologies and improved San Antonio’s facilities, but this dispute is just beginning.
“It’s not right,” said Staley. “And I’m going to take it a step further.”
She stressed that when coaches or schools make mistakes, the NCAA initiates investigations.
“Something needs to happen,” said Staley. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Expect Staley, 50 and in her 13th season as a South Carolina coach, to keep talking.
San Antonio is the dawn of a new dawn, super motivated to take public positions since George Floyd died while in the hands of Minneapolis police in May. This coincides with the spotlight: Staley’s 2020 Gamecocks finished first in the final standings (COVID-19 canceled the NCAA tournament) and she will be on her way to Tokyo to lead the US team at the 2021 Olympic Games (formerly the 2020 Olympic Games ).
Staley, as we saw in South Carolina, is spreading his influence as a necessary and important national voice for a demographic group largely ignored for generations.
Sometimes reluctantly, she said this week.
“I don’t like the spotlight on me at all. I really don’t want to, ”said Staley. “I am a person who likes to stay in my lane. I don’t like confrontation. “
This clue includes comments on Twitter about the massacre of the history of the supermarket in Colorado and praise for the appearance of soccer star Megan Rapinoe at the White House, which included support for transgender athletes who participate in women’s sports.
Staley in the South Carolina NCAA Tournament victory over Mercer wore a T-shirt with the names of black coaches John Chaney, Nolan Richardson, Carolyn Peck, George Raveling, John Thompson, Leonard Hamilton and LeVelle Moton (and Dawn Staley) on the front.
All of this has happened in the past few days.
Confrontation?
She criticized President Donald Trump last summer, offered support for Vice President Kamala Harris and then said she did not “tell people to vote for.”
Staley was honored as the flag bearer of US Olympic athletes during a playing career that included three gold medals. But South Carolina players, with the exception of junior Elysa Wesolek, refused to compete for the national anthem this season (Staley and his assistants represented the anthem).
Of course, you don’t have to agree with Staley’s messages to respect the thoughtful views of a remarkable life experience.
Staley before Floyd’s death was ready with impactful comments on social issues, such as the Confederacy flag flying on the grounds of SC Statehouse, following in the footsteps of other basketball coaches like Larry Shyatt of Clemson and Eddie Fogler of South Carolina.
But his messages today are being conveyed with added urgency and by an older, wiser woman with high status.
Staley, for example, was not as vociferous at the 2017 Final Four in Dallas, where the Gamecocks beat Stanford and then Mississippi State for the national title.
In 2021, she is a champion trainer in an Olympic year, leaving a season in first place in the ranking.
Cancer battles and champion
It is not just about equality issues with Staley. His more than 100,000 Twitter followers in the past few weeks have also seen his encouragement and prayers for cancer patients and children doing well in school, updates on his beloved champion dog Havanese and support for the new County Sheriff’s Department of Crisis Intervention Team from Richland.
Added to this is a superbly cast voice for women’s basketball and civil rights in the largest and oldest annual showcase for American women’s athletics.
To be sure, Staley is not alone in San Antonio in his fight with the NCAA.
Other coaches spoke.
Players like Oregon’s Sedona Prince brought the disparities of the NCAA tournament to light through social media posts.
Geno Auriemma, the supreme defender of women’s basketball, a man who led Connecticut to 11 national titles, is back with his team after a positive test for COVID-19.
But Staley is as relentless as a Virginia and WNBA playmaker as a coach. She is determined to continue fighting the inequities in university athletics.
It’s not a ‘one-year thing’
“This is not a year,” said Staley. “This is happening every year for the existence (of the NCAA Tournament). … It’s not right.”
Yes, Staley pointed out without being asked, male basketball and football are revenue-generating sports. But Title IX’s equal federal protection overcomes that, she said.
Can you hear? The applause of athletes and coaches in women’s tennis and men’s cross country programs across the country?
It is aimed at the urban boy (North Philadelphia) who studied at a prestigious ACC school (Virginia) before playing basketball around the world and being a coach in the North (Temple) and in the South. She is a woman who founded the INNERSOLE foundation, dedicated providing shoes for needy children.
She loves to chat with fans and people who don’t know anything about basketball while cycling in Columbia. She was there while her sister, Tracey Underwood, spent difficult parts of 2020 battling leukemia.
Staley has a knack for getting to the heart of a problem.
It’s simple, she said about the NCAA mess. A father with a boy and a girl playing basketball would provide these interests equally.
“We will discuss this with the family,” she said. “And that’s how you talk about things.”
Coincidentally, or maybe not, it’s Women’s History Month and Gamecocks are about to do more. Which keeps the spotlight on Staley, crossed reluctantly or not.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff