Dawn Staley
FameRank: 5

"Dawn Michelle Staley" is an American basketball hall of fame player and coach. Staley is a three-time Olympian and was elected to carry the Flag of the United States/United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. After winning the gold medal at the Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics/1996 Summer Olympics, she went to play professionally in the American Basketball League 1996-98/American Basketball League and the Women's National Basketball Association/WNBA. In 2011, Staley was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

While still a WNBA player, she started coaching the Temple University Owls women's basketball team in 2000. In six years at Temple, she led the program to six NCAA tournaments, three regular season conference championships, and four conference tournament titles.

On May 7, 2008 she was named the University of South Carolina women's head basketball coach. Over the following six seasons, she improved her program's record every year, up to winning the SEC in 2013-2014. In late 2014 her team achieved the program's first #1 ranking, making her only the second individual to both play on and coach a #1 ranked team.

More Dawn Staley on Wikipedia.

She's capable of doing that. You don't want her to touch it in that situation.

216

They could have handled the trade differently, opened the lines of communication, especially with the amount of time and professionalism that I've given to that organization and to that city, ... It's a business, but I don't have to like it.

209

If it was one-game elimination, youth would probably win, ... But since it is a series, I like our chances because of our experience in big games — games even bigger than the WNBA playoffs.

195

I play basketball because I love it. This was enjoyable, and I'm still motivated to get to the finals.

190

One more year. I'm going back to Houston.

156

She's got my all-star vote, ... I think you'll see her in a bunch of these before her career is over. She's quick. She's tough. She has great vision. People might talk about her being small but you can't talk about the small game to me. She's having a tremendous season.

139

The situation in Houston was refreshing.

130

You'd think you would go in and see the crying. They're not like that; they're very positive. I wasn't anticipating that. I thought I was going to have to comfort people. But they let us know exactly what went on, (that) they were out of a tough situation and were on to something else that could give them a little hope.

128