Staley proud to be 2nd African-American coach to win title

Dawn Staley hopes to pass along a piece of her first championship net to another aspiring African-American coach — the same as Carolyn Peck did for her years ago.

Staley joined Peck as the only African-American coaches to win an NCAA women’s basketball championship Sunday night when South Carolina beat Mississippi State 67-55. Peck, who won a title at Purdue in 1999, gave Staley a piece of her net a few years ago when she was a commentator. Staley has held it close ever since.

“I’ve had it in my wallet for years. She said, ‘When you win your national championship, just return it,’” Staley said. “I’m going to have to pass a piece of my net on to somebody else so they can share and hopefully accomplish something as big as this. I do have to give a shout out to Carolyn Peck, and I will return her net, thankfully.”

Staley proudly wore the net she cut down around her neck and still had it on hours later when she left the arena.

“I’m going to enjoy it. It’s something that I’ve been coaching for 17 years now. I played college basketball, what, 25 to 28 years ago. It took that long,” Staley said. “I also want people to know that just because something takes a long time, I mean, you have to have patience, you have to persevere, stay with it. If something is a goal of yours to accomplish, you don’t give up on it. I never gave up on winning a national championship, no matter how hard it was, no matter what it looked like.”

A’ja Wilson scored 23 points to help coach Staley get her first title. Staley made the Final Four three times as a player at Virginia but never won. She also led the Gamecocks to the national semifinals two years ago before losing to Notre Dame.

“It means that I can check off one of the things that had been a void in my career,” Staley said. “Something I wanted to do. It was one of two opportunities that I saw women play when I was younger: national championship games and Olympics. Those were things that I held dear and near to me growing up. Those were the things I saw and were shooting for.”

Wilson, a native South Carolina player who was Staley’s biggest recruit ever, was the key. She was thrilled to help Staley get her first title.

“I can’t put into words how much it meant to win the game for coach,” Wilson said. “She’s put in so much time and sweat into this. ... It really means something special to bring this back home for such a great person like coach Staley.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Staley proud to be 2nd African-American coach to win title."