Dawn Staley would have left South Carolina for New York Knicks coaching job: ‘I would have had to do it’

Dawn Staley was ready for the challenge of the NBA and to leave South Carolina behind, the Gamecocks’ head coach said this week.

Speaking to the “Post Moves” podcast with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston, Staley said that had she been offered the New York Knicks head coaching job, she would have felt like she “had to do it.”

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“If the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it. Not just for me, it’s for women. Just to break open [that door],” Staley said. “I would have had to. It’s the New York Knicks and I’m from Philly. But it’s the freaking New York Knicks.”

According to The Athletic, Staley impressed Knicks executives during her interview, but was not considered a finalist for the job to replace Tom Thibodeau. The team ended up hiring Mike Brown after speaking to a pool of candidates including ex-head coaches James Borrego and Taylor Jenkins, as well as Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, among others.

Staley noted that she wouldn’t take a job just because it was in the NBA. The history of the Knicks was a big factor in why she accepted the invitation to talk about the open position. What she felt hurt her in the discussion, and changed the energy in the room, were her pointed questions about what hiring a female head coach would mean for the organization going forward.

“Well, I had a series of questions that I asked them,” Staley said. “No. 1 was: Why was I in the candidate pool? I said, ‘Has the New York Knicks organization, in its history, ever had what you’re looking for? They wanted a team. They wanted inclusiveness with management, coaches and everyone. They wanted it to feel like a closely knit franchise. The answer was really ‘no.’ If you don’t hire anyone different, how are you going to get that? That was No. 1.

“How, if you hired me as the first female [head] coach in the NBA, would it impact your daily job? Because it would,” Staley said. “You’re going to be asked questions that you don’t have to answer if you’re a male coach. There’s going to be the media and all this other stuff that you have to deal with that you didn’t have to deal with and don’t have to deal with when you hire a male. That got them to thinking, ‘Maybe she’s right.’”

Staley, 55, has been South Carolina’s women’s head coach since 2008. She is the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball after signing an extension through the 2029-30 season in January. The deal starts with an annual salary of $4 million and will grow by $250,000 each year. In total, the deal — which also includes a $500,000 signing bonus — is worth around $25.5 million.

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Since taking over the program, Staley has led the Gamecocks to nine SEC tournament titles, nine SEC regular-season titles and seven Final Four appearances. She is a four-time Naismith Coach of the Year and a seven-time SEC Coach of the Year.

Staley has led South Carolina to three NCAA championships (2017, 2022, 2024), which is tied for third all time in women’s college basketball.