Dawn Staley led the USC women to elite status, now she will try to keep them there

Dawn Staley played in three Final Fours. She remembers how Virginia went from giddy sophomores, almost overwhelmed with the elation of being there, to toughened seniors, expecting to be there. She knows what it takes to sustain a Final Four program, which is the challenge facing her as she prepares for her eighth season at South Carolina.

It’s not about reaching it once. It’s about going again and again until she claims the one goal she has yet to obtain – a national championship – and then winning another.

“I know that when you have talent, you put yourself in a position to get there once you got a taste of it,” Staley said last week. “Now that our players have gotten a taste of it, to play on the last weekend, they’re working a little bit harder, they’re being a lot more committed to getting back there, and it’s a good thing. But it’s going to be hard. I think we have to fill a lot of big voids that have been left in our program.”

The Gamecocks have become one of the nation’s best teams, but Staley’s challenge is to keep them there. Following her senior year at Virginia, the Cavaliers won ACC titles and made the NCAA Tournament, but they never again reached the heights of 1989-92. A great program became good, then solid; Staley, who built USC from a 10-18 squad hoping for a WNIT berth to a team ranked No. 1 for 12 weeks last year, doesn’t want that repeated.

Her team lost three seniors, two of whom helped start the string of four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and one who impacted every game she played in for two years. There is plenty of talent returning, notably with two-time SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell, and Staley hauled in an amazing recruiting class, although two (Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray) can’t play this year.

Now that one goal has been reached and the returning Gamecocks know what it took to get there, they’re already back to work.

WELCH

Aleighsa Welch’s points and rebounding might be replaced. Her never-say-die spirit is another matter.

“Aleighsa’s really good in talking to people, she could get it done,” Staley said. “Sarah (Imovbioh) is positive. With young people, it could be a turn-off if it’s phony, but she’s not phony. She’s liked by all of our players.”

Imovbioh, the Virginia transfer eligible this year, led the ACC in rebounding last year. She is being relied on to help replace Welch’s totals but also is showing early leadership.

“Tiffany Mitchell is stepping up in a leadership role, as well as Khadijah (Sessions), as well as A’ja (Wilson),” Staley said. “Everybody will have somebody they will connect with. Overall, I think Tiffany will probably be the one people look to.”

Mitchell is the Gamecocks’ most talented player but never has been a rah-rah emotional magnet. Staley said she’s already started to tweak her style – an Olympic tryout in Las Vegas with the best players in the world helped.

“We just need her to be a little more vocal,” Staley said. “To voice what she sees happening out there.”

NEWCOMERS

Imovbioh played center at Virginia but is expected to be at power forward for USC. That fills Welch’s vacancy and Alaina Coates will step into Elem Ibiam’s center spot.

Staley didn’t promise Imovbioh a starting role. She explained, as she does to every player, no position is given.

“Sarah wants to get better, Sarah wants to know she’ll get on the floor,” Staley said. “As long as she’s competing, as long as she’s producing, she’ll be on the floor.”

Davis and Gray can’t play but can practice. That gives the Gamecocks two elite guards to defend.

USC also lost assistant coach Darius Taylor. About to marry Georgia coach Joni Crenshaw, Taylor resigned in order to be with his bride. USC replaced him with longtime Staley confidante Fred Chmiel.

While Chmiel can’t replace Taylor’s presence in practice – he suited up and played against USC’s bigs – he can offer his knowledge from years in the professional ranks. “With Fred coming in, it’s just different,” Staley said. “I think Fred will equally be effective in how he teaches the game.”

SEC

The Gamecocks have won the past two SEC regular-season championships. They might be the preseason pick to three-peat, something only Auburn (1987-89) and Tennessee (1993-95, 2000-04) have done.

Maybe.

“In our league, it’s not the rich keep getting richer, it’s every school in our conference keeps getting better,” Staley said.

Old foe Diamond DeShields is eligible at Tennessee. Mississippi State returns star Victoria Vivians and signed 6-foot-7, five-star prospect Teaira McCowan. Kentucky reloaded with junior college player of the year Evelyn Akhator and Chrishae Rowe, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at Oregon, who’s eligible for the SEC season.

Then there’s Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas A&M and LSU. And Vanderbilt, Florida and Georgia won’t continue to have bad stretches.

“You know when you’re at the top of this league, you put yourself in position to go to the Final Four,” Staley said. “We don’t go to the Final Four not playing in the type of environment we play in our league.”

FUTURE

Staley is in a temporary office at Colonial Life Arena while her old office is expanded (it’s projected to be ready for the season). She leaves to coach the FIBA under-19 U.S. team on June 30 (with Wilson) and will be gone for most of July. Another round of Olympic tryouts – she is an assistant for 2016 – is in the fall before the season.

Armed with a new contract (Staley is the first USC women’s coach to make over $1 million per season, and her deal runs through 2021), she reflected on what it took to get here. Through losses, defections and questions about her salary early to tremendous success now, it’s been a long ride.

She’s enjoying the product – but isn’t done working to improve it.

“It’s always tough,” Staley said. “People will have to step up to the challenge to help us get back there.”

“There,” as it was at Virginia, has become the expectation. And Staley has never backed down from a challenge.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Dawn Staley led the USC women to elite status, now she will try to keep them there."