Dawn Staley pushes for more ‘people who look like me’ in USC athletics leadership
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley wants to see the Gamecocks athletics department make a concerted effort to improve its diversity at the very top — and she’s working on a plan to push that forward.
Speaking during The State’s “Breaking Point: Tackling Systemic Racism in South Carolina” forum on Friday, Staley elaborated on an action plan she’s been working on as the coronavirus pandemic has limited her ability to coach. It’s a plan she first publicly mentioned in an interview with the Associated Press.
“I’m on the outside of laws and what laws are being passed and and really seeing the barometer of where we are systemically,” Staley acknowledged. “But over the past few weeks, you have time to dive in, to see where we are in our athletics department, at our university, in our state. And I’m putting together an action plan, and hopefully we can get our leaders at the university to dive in and help change some numbers that that are out there.”
Specifically, Staley said, the university and the athletics department need more Black administrators and “people who look like me in decision-making positions.” She complimented university president Bob Caslen for hiring the school’s first ever vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, Dr. Julian Williams, and the university’s first ever Black provost, William Tate. But there is still more that can be done, Staley said, especially in the athletics department.
“I’m one of two Black head coaches at South Carolina,” Staley said. “I know of two Black administrators at the South Carolina athletics department, that’s Charles Waddell and Maria Hickman. We need more.”
Both Hickman, executive associate athletics director and chief diversity officer for the department, and Waddell, special assistant to the athletics director, have served as the supervisor for Staley’s program, and Staley said they speak frequently about “what I deal with, what they deal with and how we can expand.”
But beyond those conversations, Staley said, the department needs someone specifically trained and “versed” in diversity issues to push it even further forward.
“I think Maria Hickman is doing a great job given the position that she was given, which is (chief diversity officer). Do I think she’s doing a great job? Yes. Do I think she’s versed in diversity and inclusion? No, and I expressed that to her as well,” Staley said. “We need somebody else who is versed in it to take our university and our athletics department to another level.”
Starting in her own workplace, Staley said, is how change needs to happen at this historic moment, when systemic racism is at the forefront of the national conversation.
“I hope from there we can branch out into our communities, and I hope from there we can branch out into our state and be leaders and have model programs that other people across the country can model and have success with,” Staley said.
Staley didn’t give an exact date for when she will release her plan, saying she wanted it to be “comprehensive” and address questions people might have. But when it does come out, she said, it will have both short-term and long-term deadlines and goals to ensure the issue doesn’t fade away.
“This has to be addressed every single day,” Staley said. “It’s like, I’m a coach, and I coach our women’s basketball team. We practice every single day. If we’re not in season, we’re thinking about how to get better in the offseason.
“So, Black lives matter, and the things that we need to do to (erase) the inequalities and the systemic racism that’s happening ... and I don’t think people really understand, and I don’t think they are aware of it. So, we must make them aware of it by working on it every single day.”
When asked by moderator Roger Brown if she was concerned about any backlash she might face for her activism, Staley said she was not.
“I know that, what I feel in my heart I convey anytime I send a text, tweet, a post on social media — it’s coming straight from my heart because I feel it, and I do feel it’s my duty to send it out. I represent so many young Black ladies,” Staley said.
“And I represent this community. I live in this community, and people do look to hear my voice. And for me to speak out, I think, is not only necessary, but it is my duty to do that, and I’ll take whatever backlash that comes with that because to whom much is given, much is required.”
