South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley is one of the most well-respected people in women's basketball. From her Hall of Fame playing career to her status as one of the best coaches of all-time, she has accomplished everything that can be accomplished in the game. She has also handled herself with class and been loved by virtually everyone (except maybe by rival fanbases).
Someone forgot to tell that to Jason Whitlock.
"Who?!" might be what goes through your mind when you hear that name. Jason Whitlock is a former ESPN employee who was fired several years ago and who clings to relevancy by throwing out ridiculous hot takes and trying to instigate media beef with other talking heads throughout the world of sports.
Famously, Whitlock was embroiled in a loud war of words with ESPN big-timer Stephen A. Smith that you can read up on here.
For some reason, Whitlock's most recent target has been Coach Staley. Since the scuffle that occurred during the South Carolina-LSU matchup in the SEC Tournament Championship Game, Whitlock has thrown Coach Staley's name around as he searches for clout. None of his content will be linked as he doesn't deserve the extra internet traffic.
In a discussion on DEI in sports, Whitlock veered back into his "I hate Dawn Staley" schtick. "Outside of South Carolina, outside of Columbia, South Carolina, no one really cares about Dawn Staley...Ain't nobody tuning in for Dawn Staley and that rough, physical, un-coached style of basketball that South Carolina plays."
(Adding to the ridiculousness, he said that no one had heard of Iowa star Caitlin Clark before last season as if she wasn't an All-American the two years prior to that.)
According to Whitlock, Dawn Staley's team is "un-coached." It would seem that he has forgotten that Staley has won National Coach of the Year honors in four different seasons, including this year. In two of those years, her Gamecocks won the national title (and were the heavy favorite to win it in 2020, too, before Covid-19 halted the NCAA Tournament before it began).
The Gamecocks, led by Dawn Staley, dethroned UConn as the top women's college basketball program in America. That requires some serious coaching chops. They've won 8 SEC regular season championships in the last 11 years and 8 SEC Tournament championships in the last 10 years. They've been the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament 4 years running.
His comment about "nobody tuning in" to watch the Gamecocks is also laughable. The South Carolina-LSU SEC Tournament game was the most-watched women's game in over a decade outside of the NCAA Tournament. USC-Iowa in last year's Final Four was the 3rd-most watched women's game ever.
The Gamecocks are in a position to break the all-time attendance records (both average and total) this season, as well, and when major brands come to Colonial Life Arena (like UConn, Tennessee, or Maryland), there are a lot of visitors in the stands. It is not just Columbia, South Carolina that wants to see South Carolina basketball play.
Jason Whitlock should go back to arguing with Stephen A. Smith and going after his athletics career because Dawn Staley's resume is impeccable.