South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley questioned NCAA President Mark Emmert on Friday about disparities in men’s and women’s tournaments.
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“What we now know is that the 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 said on Twitter.
Photos on social media showed a full weight room at the men’s tournament in Indianapolis, while the women’s tournament in San Antonio had a weight rack and some yoga mats in an empty ballroom. There were also disparities in tournament earnings and food quality.
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“There is no answer that the NCAA executive leadership led by Mark Emmert can give to explain the disparities,” said Staley, whose team is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, which starts Sunday in San Antonio. “Mark Emmert and his team decided to create them! The real problem is not the weights or the ‘free gifts’ bags. It’s just that they didn’t think or think that the female players” deserved “the same amenities as the men.”
© Dawson Powers, USA TODAY Sports
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has problems with leadership and NCAA president Mark Emmert.
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She also had problems with the officer March Madness Twitter account including the slogan: “The official destination of the NCAA March Madness for all things in Division I / NCAA Men’s Basketball”.
“Those words mean one thing – March Madness is ONLY about men’s basketball,” she said. “How do we explain this to our players? How can an organization that claims to care about the experiences of student-athletes from ALL member institutions have a copyrighted item that ‘represents’ just one genre?”
Staley, who had a career as a player in the Hall of Fame, coached female college basketball for 20 years, including the last 12 years in South Carolina. She won a national title in 2017 and is twice the coach of the year.
“Every team here in San Antonio has earned and deserves at least the same level of respect as men,” she said. “All the teams here have dealt with the same problems as the men’s teams this season, but their ‘reward’ is different.
“Women’s basketball is a popular sport whose stock and presence continues to increase globally. It is sad that the NCAA is not willing to recognize and invest in our growth, despite its demands for unity and equality.… (It’s) time to the leadership of the NCAA to reevaluate the value they place on women. “
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– dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) March 20, 2021
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This article was originally published in USA TODAY: South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley criticizes NCAA’s Mark Emmert about tournament disparities
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