Dawn Staley, one of the most admired coaches in women’s basketball, criticized the NCAA on Friday for her approach to sport and the national tournament – an event of 64 teams that the college sports regulator acknowledged on Friday that it had received inadequate resources compared to those available in the men’s competition.
“I can’t be quiet,” said Staley, the South Carolina coach, at the beginning of a long published statement about her Twitter account.
“What we now know is that an NCAA season’s message about ‘union’ and ‘equality’ was about convenience and a catchphrase for the moment created after the assassination of George Floyd,” she later wrote, referring to to the black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis last spring. Addressing his most forceful criticisms of Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, Staley said that he and other executives of the association could not “use us and our student-athletes at their convenience”.
“Every team here in San Antonio has earned and deserves at least the same level of respect as men,” said Staley, whose team is number one seed. “All the teams here have dealt with the same problems as the men’s teams this season; however, your ‘reward’ is different. “
Emmert and other NCAA executives on Friday acknowledged the disparities – mainly involving coronavirus testing and exercise facilities – and, in some cases, apologized for them. But Staley said Friday night it was “time for the NCAA leadership to reevaluate the value they place on women.”