Dawn Staley Sends Powerful Message After Joining World's Top 6% of Women

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kevin Borba | Last updated May 20, 2025 3:06 PM ET

South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball coach Dawn Staley has had a busy offseason.

Although her team's season ended with a loss in the NCAA Tournament Championship to the UConn Huskies, Staley has still had a positive time off of the court. In addition to promoting her book "Uncommon Favor," which was released on Tuesday, Staley was also honored by the City of Columbia with a statue in her likeness in April.

As revealed in a release by the program, the statue was intended to honor her "championship legacy" and also highlight her "unwavering commitment to leadership, community empowerment, and uplifting future generations."

Staley made an appearance on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday to discuss her book, also touching on how special it was to receive the statue.

"It's unimaginable," Staley said of her statue. "I had goals of being an Olympian. I had goals of being a national champion. I didn't never have a goal of having a statue. But now other little girls can grow up and say 'I want a statue. That's a goal of mine. To have a statue.'"

Staley's statue, made of bronze, is reportedly 14 feet tall. While there were initially plans to have it on campus, Michael Sauls of The State reported that the head coach requested it not be at South Carolina's Colonial Life Arena, in order to leave spaces for players to be honored.

Staley's statue made her just the third women’s basketball coach to have a statue in their honor, as prior to her, that honor was only held by former Tennessee Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt and former Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw, according to The Athletic.

Although Staley and the Gamecocks fell short of winning what would have been her fourth title with the program, they are expected to be among the best teams in the country next season. ESPN ranked them as the No. 1 team in its early rankings ahead of the 2025-26 season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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