Dawn Staley is a certified winner on the court. And now the South Carolina women’s basketball coach is in a league of her own off the court, too.
Staley just became the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball, after signing a contract extension that amounts to a total value of $25.3 million, ESPN reported on Friday. The extension will keep the women’s hoops legend with the Gamecocks through the 2029–30 season. It sees her earning $4 million a year, plus a $500,000 signing bonus and an annual $250,000 escalator.
“I’m proud to represent the University of South Carolina and of its investment in women’s basketball,” Staley said in a statement. “What we’ve been able to accomplish on the court is a testament to what can happen when you bring together the right people from a team perspective but also have the right commitment from the university, the athletics department and the community to providing that team with everything it needs to be successful.”
Since taking the helm in 2008, Staley has led the Gamecocks to three national championships, including an undefeated season just last year. She was a star WNBA player in her own right before she moved over to coaching, a role in which she also helped the U.S. women’s national team win a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Prior to signing the extension, Staley was making $3.2 million a year, ESPN noted. That put her behind LSU coach Kim Mulkey, who has a salary of $3.25 million this season, and UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who’s making $3.3 million this year. (Those three, plus Maryland’s Brenda Frese, are the only active coaches in the women’s game to have won a natty.)
“Dawn Staley is a once-in-a-generation coach who has made a tremendous impact on the University of South Carolina,” Jeremiah Donati, the school’s athletic director, said in a statement. “She has elevated the sport of women’s basketball on the national level and here on campus, and I am excited that she will be representing our University for many years to come.”
As Donati mentioned, women’s basketball—both at the college and pro levels—has become a marquee sport in the past couple of years, thanks in part to what Staley has built at South Carolina. The Gamecocks will likely have her at the helm for several years to come, with the coach owing the school the full amount left on her contract if she leaves before the end of the term. That, though, comes with one caveat: Staley won’t need to pay up if she leaves for an assistant or head coaching role in the WNBA or NBA.
Maybe one day we’ll see Staley back in the pros, then.
Authors
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Tori Latham