Dawn Staley has become a basketball icon as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport.
The Philadelphia native began her coaching career at Temple in her home city. She led the Owls to six NCAA Tournament appearances and four A-10 Tournament titles. After eight seasons with Temple, she took her talents to South Carolina, where she has turned the Gamecocks into one of the most prestigious programs in the country.
Under Staley, South Carolina has won two national championships to go with six Final Four appearances and eight SEC Tournament titles in 16 seasons. After missing the NCAA Tournament in her first three seasons at the helm, South Carolina has qualified for March Madness every year since.
Staley and the Gamecocks’ reign of dominance has reached new heights in the last three seasons. They own an unfathomable 108-3 record in that span.
But long before leading South Carolina to the brink of an undefeated season — the No. 1 overall seed sits at 37-0 going into Sunday’s national championship game against Iowa — Staley was a player herself, at the NCAA and WNBA level.
The Sporting News has you covered with the stats and achievements from Staley’s decorated playing career.
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Where did Dawn Staley play college basketball?
Staley played college basketball at Virginia from 1988-1992.
Dawn Staley stats, accolades at Virginia
To put it plainly, Staley was a hooper in college. The 5-6 guard dominated during her four seasons at Virginia, racking up records and accolades.
Staley averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.5 steals per game for her career. She led the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons, reaching three Final Fours and one national championship game.
Staley won two Naismith Player of the Year awards, two ACC Player of the Year awards and one NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honor. She was All-ACC in all four seasons and also won ACC Rookie of the Year as a freshman.
You can find her complete stats below.
| Year | Class | GP | RPG | APG | SPG | PPG |
| 1988-89 | FR | 31 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 18.5 |
| 1989-90 | SO | 32 | 6.7 | 4.4 | 3.2 | 17.9 |
| 1990-91 | JR | 34 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 3.9 | 14.6 |
| 1991-92 | SR | 34 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 3.4 | 14.5 |
| Career | 131 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 3.5 | 16.3 |
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By the time she graduated, Staley was the NCAA’s all-time steals leader (454), the ACC’s all-time assists leader (729) and Virginia’s all-time leading scorer (2,135). All three records have since been broken.
Did Dawn Staley play in the WNBA?
After starting her professional career overseas and then with the American Basketball League, Staley was selected by the Charlotte Sting with the No. 9 overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft.
She had a successful eight-year WNBA career, spending six-plus seasons with the Sting and one-plus season with the Houston Comets. Staley was a five-time All-Star, averaging 8.5 points, 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game for her career.
MORE: South Carolina looking to join NCAA history with undefeated season
She was named to the WNBA’s 10th and 15th anniversary team, honored as one of the 15 best players in WNBA history back in 2011.
It is also worth noting that Staley won three gold medals competing for Team USA in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
