Dawn Staley hints at coaching future with South Carolina in podcast interview

Dawn Staley enters her 23rd year as a college basketball head coach this season, and she might have an idea of how many more seasons remain.

In an interview with The Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler as part of the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast series, Staley talked about her future as a coach.

Staley, 52, has six years left on her USC contract after signing an extension last October. Fowler asked her how much longer she intends to coach.

“I don’t see myself (coaching) at 60,” Staley said in the podcast interview. “But I didn’t see myself coaching (at all), and this is my 23rd year. I am enjoying it. I don’t see myself coaching at 60, but if I get some more (recruiting) classes like we’ve had, then the job is a little easier… So if our assistant coaches can get some more No. 1 recruiting classes, I might stick around (laughs).”

Staley coached at Temple for eight seasons before arriving at USC in 2008, where she’s won two national championships and two Naismith Coach of the Year awards.

While she enjoys coaching, she said she didn’t like all aspects of it, including some elements of recruiting.

She said she will give families the “worst-case scenario,” that she can’t guarantee the incoming players that they’ll be first-round picks in the WNBA Draft and have successful careers.

“I’m censored, but I’m not,” Staley told The Charlotte Observer. “I can’t fluff it up.”

The team has signed 10 McDonald’s All-Americans since 2019, but Staley pointed out the mental prowess of the recent teams she’s coached.

“They just want to win,” Staley said. “They just want to be great. They just want to be pros. That’s probably the perfect scenario for me because that’s why I wanted to get into coaching.”

Fowler also asked Staley about her NBA or WNBA coaching interest — she said she has none.

Staley interviewed for a head coaching job with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021. The NBA team sought out Staley for the position. She mentioned in a podcast episode with Jemele Hill on “Jemele Hill is Unbothered” that she wrote down notes about that process.

But she said that professional coaching never appealed to her, even as a WNBA player.

“My passion is for young people,” Staley said in Fowler’s podcast. “I would say that both leagues are getting younger and younger, but I’m getting older and older. I more so see the light at the end of the tunnel in my career. Going to the next level from an NBA standpoint, it takes a long time to be successful.”

She mentioned that coaching gives her a bigger reach across the basketball world than playing did, adding that she was grateful to have that influence.

“As a coach now I get to impact my current players, my former players, the entire women’s basketball community,” Staley said. “So I think my impact is a little bit bigger.”

For much more from this interview and to hear other “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” interviews, including 1-on-1 conversations with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Charlie Scott, Danny Ford and Wesley Walls, subscribe to the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast. New episodes drop every Wednesday, and bonus content is available exclusively on Apple Podcasts.