Long before she became the face of South Carolina women's basketball, Dawn Staley had the opportunity to take a different path into the SEC. In her new book that was released earlier this month, Uncommon Favor, Staley revealed that the Alabama Crimson Tide had actually pursued her in 2005, years before South Carolina took interest. But according to Staley, something about the Tide opportunity just didn't feel right.
“Alabama came after me first in 2005,” Staley wrote. “I visited the campus. I liked the athletic director. But I couldn’t see myself living in Alabama.”
At that time, she was busy building her legacy at Temple, leading the Owls to an undefeated regular season in the Atlantic 10 the same year, the first ever in the conference. But even though she had guided the program to six NCAA Tournament appearances, Staley eventually realized she was destined for something bigger when it came to chasing a national title. And when South Carolina opened a head coaching position, it caught her attention.
“I was drawn to the fact that USC was part of the SEC and its storied legacy in women’s basketball,” Staley wrote. “Pat Summitt was in this league, Andy Landers, Melanie Balcomb—all these legendary coaches. I was looking to refine my skills, rise to compete with the best. The cherry on top was that my parents were originally from South Carolina.”
The Gamecocks offered more than just a professional opportunity in Staley's eyes; they offered something personal as well. Taking the job in South Carolina also meant her mother, Estelle, would have the opportunity to reconnect with her roots. When Staley's mother, Estelle, was just 14 years old, she moved from rural South Carolina because of racism and was sent to live with her aunt in Philidelphia.
“That was rural South Carolina in the fifties,” Staley wrote. “Not far from where I live now. My grandma knew the threat that now loomed over her family like a rancid fog.” And years later, Estelle returned with a new vision of South Carolina as her daughter took the helm of a major women's basketball program. It was a full-circle moment, one marked by healing and hope.
“Time is a funny thing, isn’t it?” Staley wrote in her memoir. “That I find myself thriving in the very state that drove my mother into exile is an irony I never forget. That she was able to return to her home, her place of belonging, when I came to work at South Carolina was a full-circle moment made possible by social progress, the civil rights movement, myriad changes seismic and small—but also, in large part, by faith.”
And now, with every chapter Staley has written, both literally and figuratively, her legacy at South Carolina is rooted in family and unwavering belief that purpose always finds its place.