South Carolina Basketball: Dawn Staley graces cover of SLAM magazine

South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley is everywhere.

Since winning her third national championship in April, Staley has been spotted in Europe with former star player A'ja Wilson, at multiple Philadelphia sporting events (Staley is a Philly native and avid Philly sports fan), at several WNBA contests to support former Gamecocks, and all over the country recruiting future players to the South Carolina basketball program.

Now, she will be seen on every newstand and trending topic list in the country.

On Thursday, Coach Staley became the first active coach ever to receive a solo cover of SLAM magazine. She had been on the cover in 2022 with players Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, and Destanni Henderson, but this was her first time on the cover by herself. Some editions of the magazine will feature current WNBA rookies Cameron Brink or Angel Reese.

Staley also received a feature story in this 250th edition of SLAM, and making it even more special, it was written by Columbia native Lauren "Lo" Dreher.

The story ("The Excellence of Dawn Staley") does exactly what the title suggests: it masterfully pays homage to and picks the brain of women's basketball's "Chief Excellence Officer." The article is worth a read for any South Carolina basketball fan or fan of Dawn Staley.

Staley's first National Player of the Year with the Gamecocks was A'ja Wilson, a player who has grown into the best player in the women's basketball world. This past winter, Wilson was the cover athlete for SLAM 247, marking South Carolina basketball as cover athletes for two of the last four SLAM editions. It was Wilson's third time on the cover, but her second time as a solo cover athlete (she shared a cover on SLAM 223 with Liz Cambage and was given a solo cover for SLAM 240).