Gamecocks women’s basketball: Dawn Staley returning as Team USA assistant coach
By Sydney Hunte
Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley is back as an assistant coach of the United States women’s national team. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is headed back to familiar territory with the United States women’s basketball team.
Staley will join head coach Geno Auriemma’s staff, USA Basketball announced today, her second tour of duty with the national team.
Staley’s back after being part of the coaching squad that led the women to Olympic gold in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, four years after she played on the 2004 squad that won gold in Athens–her third as a player. She wasn’t there when the U.S. won gold in London in 2012, but will be on the sidelines as they go for a second straight world championship and ninth overall.
DePaul women’s coach Doug Bruno and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve join Staley on Auriemma’s coaching staff. Reeve led the Lynx to three straight WNBA Finals (winning in 2011 and 2013), while Bruno, the longtime man in charge at DePaul, has coached the Blue Demons to eleven straight NCAA appearances (eighteen in all) and a pair of Sweet Sixteens. As for Auriemma’s resume, that doesn’t need mentioning.