South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley is everywhere.
The top coach in all of women's college basketball, Staley finds herself all over the world during her team's offseason. Fans who pay attention can spot Staley at major sporting events (especially in her hometown of Philadelphia), they can see her on the cover of Slam Magazine and in commercials all over television and streaming platforms, and, now, they can locate her in the spotlight at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Coach Staley is not coaching the United States Basketball Women's National Team this summer (she did help A'ja Wilson and company win the gold medal at the 2020/2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japn), but she is still in Paris cheering on the various Team USAs and the athletes competing in Europe across the wide gamut of sports.
On Sunday, Staley spoke to NBC's Mike Tirico at the conclusion of the United States Basketball Men's National Team's game against Serbia. During the conversation with the broadcasting legend, Staley (duh) provided solid analysis of the game and spoke about the state of USA Basketball (both men's and women's teams).
Coach Staley, as she always does, was supporting one of her former players during the conversation with Tirico as she was rocking one of A'ja Wilson's new hats. She also received a nice introduction from Tirico that included menntion of Staley's South Carolina basketball team and their undefeated 2023-2024 National Championship.
During the time on NBC and Peacock, Staley also stirred up a little bit of internet controversy by revealing that Caitlin Clark likely would be on the women's Olympic team if the team was chosen today. Staley, as a member of the selection committee, said that Clark is "playing head and shoulders above a lot of people" now that she has acclimated to the professional game in the WNBA.
As always, Coach Staley represented the Gamecocks well and handled herself in front of the camera, owning the basketball part of the conversation well and answering the more off-court stuff with class.
While she already has been the top fan of Team USA representatives from sports like water polo and swimming, Dawn Staley will get a chance to watch the women's basketball team take the court for the first time on Monday as Team USA will play against Team Japan in group play. The game will tip at 2:45 PM ET and will be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on the Peacock app.