“I was 29 years old. I was still playing professional basketball. And then I get this opportunity, you know, of coaching. And I was probably more afraid of being responsible for young people that's closer to my age than anything. So the responsibility part of it really just frightened me just a little bit.”

American basketball coach and former player

Dawn Staley is an American basketball coach and former player, best known as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team. As a point guard, she played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers and later spent eight seasons in the Women’s National Basketball Association, mainly with the Charlotte Sting. She also represented the United States women’s national basketball team, winning three Olympic gold medals as a player from 1996 to 2004. In 2021, she coached the U.S. team to another Olympic gold medal. Staley is the only person to win the Naismith Award both as a player and as a coach.