Dawn Staley will be named the next head coach of USA Women’s Basketball, according to The State. Staley will succeed UConn coach Geno Auriemma in the role in a press conference that will be held on Friday.
Dawn Staley will be the next Team USA Basketball head coach
An incredible career is rewarded with a much-deserved promotion.
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Staley, the current coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, has been an assistant coach on Auriemma’s staff since 2006. She will coach the team in the 2018 FIBA World Cup with the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo on the horizon.
USA Women’s basketball and Staley have been synonymous since 1989. She played on the U-19 team before transitioning to the senior level where she would go on to compete in her first Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta. Staley helped lead the team to four consecutive gold medals before moving to coaching, where she would coach the team to win two more.
In addition, she was awarded 2015 USA Basketball co-coach of the year and was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Leading up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Staley told The State she would absolutely accept the role if it was offered to her.
“For me, I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to do it,” Staley told The State newspaper before she left for the Olympics last summer. “If I’m ever honored in that way, it wouldn’t take me long to decide.”
Since 2008 Staley has been the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, where she’s led the team to six straight NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the Final Four in 2014-15.
