Dawn Staley has been a member of USA Basketball teams, as an athlete from
1989-2004 and a coach from 2006-2016. She continues her USA Basketball journey
as head coach of the 2017-20 USA Women’s National Team.
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (March 10, 2017) – Dawn Staley, head coach at the
University of South Carolina, who has had a long and illustrious USA Basketball
career that began as an athlete in 1989, and most recently as an assistant coach
for the gold medalist 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team, was today named
head coach of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team through 2020.
With Staley at the helm, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team will compete
in the 2018 FIBA World Cup (Sept. 22-30 in Spain) and, if the USA qualifies, the
2020 Summer Olympic Games (July 24 – Aug. 9 in Tokyo, Japan), as well as
additional USA training camps and exhibition games.
Staley’s selection was made by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Steering
Committee and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.
“Being named head coach of the USA National Team is a tremendous honor,” said
Staley, who was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in
2013 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. “As a player, I was
humbled each time I wore the uniform and this feels no different. I will do my
very best to uphold the standards and winning tradition of the national team,
and must thank the selection committee for having faith in my abilities as a
coach to trust me with such an important role. I would also like to thank my
teams at Temple and South Carolina for putting me in this coveted position. They
allowed me to learn and grow on the job and I am truly grateful.”
The U.S. and Staley will first look to capture the title at the 2018 FIBA
Women’s World Cup of Basketball, scheduled to be played Sept. 22-30 in Spain,
with an automatic berth to the 2020 Olympic Games being awarded to the gold
medalist. Should the U.S. not finish with the gold medal in 2018, it would have
two additional opportunities to qualify for the Olympics: the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup
(dates and site TBD); and 2020 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament (dates
and site TBD).
The 2016 Olympic finish marked the USA’s sixth-straight Olympic gold medal, and
Staley was on the roster for five of those titles — three times as an athlete
(1996, 2000, 2004) and twice as an assistant coach (2008, 2016).
“I am delighted that Dawn Staley has agreed to lead our USA Basketball Women’s
National Team through 2020,” said retired Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, USA Basketball
Chairman. “She is a terrific coach and a great leader on and off the court. She
has been part of USA Basketball for nearly three decades. I had the opportunity
to get to know Dawn and watch her work as an assistant to Geno Auriemma at the
2016 Olympic Games. I am confident that she will continue to build upon the USA
Basketball Women’s National Team’s legacy of excellence.”
Staley won a total of 10 gold medals as an athlete, including three Olympic and
two FIBA World Championship gold medals, one bronze medal and seven
international invitational titles from 1989-2004. She then transitioned into the
coaching ranks, received her first USA Basketball coaching assignment as an
assistant to the 2006 USA World Championship Team and was later asked to remain
on board through the 2008 Olympics. With Staley on the sideline, the USA
National Team from 2006-08 posted a 32-2 record, captured the 2008 Olympic and
2007 FIBA Americas Championship gold medals and the 2006 FIBA World Championship
bronze medal.
Not only has Staley coached the top-tier USA Basketball teams, she’s also headed
up a number of coaching staffs at the USA Basketball junior level, and three
years pulled double-duty as a head coach for a USA junior team and an assistant
coach for the USA National Team.
Prior to the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship Staley received her first USA head
coaching nod at the helm of the 2007 USA Pan American Games Team and did not
disappoint. Taking a group of collegians to Brazil to compete against seasoned,
international veterans, Staley piloted the USA Pan Am Team to a perfect 5-0
slate and the gold medal.
In 2014 Staley served as an assistant coach for the USA World Championship Team
that captured gold and also was the head coach for the gold-medal winning 2014
USA U18 National Team.
The following year Staley was head coach for the gold-medal winning 2015 USA U19
World Championship Team and was on hand as an assistant as the USA National Team
went 4-0 in its 2015 European tour against teams from Spain, Italy and Czech
Republic.
For her efforts in 2015, Staley was named as co-recipient of the USABasketball
National Coach of the Year award. In all, USA Basketball teams with Staley on
the sideline own an overall record of 80-4 (.952 winning percentage) and USA
teams are 21-0 with Staley serving as head coach.
Having recently wrapped up her ninth regular season (2008-09 to present) at
South Carolina with her fourth-straight Southeastern Conference regular season
title and third-straight SEC Tournament crown, Staley owns an overall record of
215-80 (.729 winning percentage) at the school. She has posted 25-win seasons in
each of the past six years and will head into the 2017 NCAA Tournament ranked
No. 4 in the nation with a 27-4 record.
Last year, Staley led her 2015-16 squad to a 33-2 record, including a perfect
16-0 in Southeastern Conference play, the SEC Tournament title and the NCAA
Sweet 16.
In her most successful season as a head coach to date, Staley led her team in
2014-15 to a 34-3 record, a share of the SEC regular season title, the SEC
Tournament crown and was a Co-SEC Coach of the Year. She piloted South Carolina
to its first NCAA Final Four in program history. Further, the Gamecocks also
reached the No. 1 spot in the national polls for the first time in history.
Prior to arriving at South Carolina, Staley was the head coach at Temple for
eight years (2000-01 through 2007-08), where she took over a program that had
not seen a winning record since 1989-90 and had never won the Atlantic 10
Conference Tournament.
Including her eight seasons as head coach at Temple University, Staley owns a
career coaching record of 387-160 (.707 winning percentage) in nearly 17 years
as a collegiate head coach. USA Basketball Women’s National Team director Carol
Callan serves as chair of the USA Women’s National Team Steering Committee. The
committee also includes three-time Olympic and two-time World Championship gold
medalist Katie Smith as the athlete representative; representing the WNBA is the
league’s chief operating officer Jay Parry; University of Connecticut head coach
Geno Auriemma, who coached USA teams to gold medals at the past two Olympics and
FIBA World Championships and will serve as a special advisor; and two-time
Olympic and 1998 FIBA World Championship gold medalist Ruthie Bolton is the
at-large representative.
