With yesterday’s 87 -75 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley became the first Black Division 1 coach to lead a team to an undefeated season. Staley also joined an elite club with three or more NCAA titles. She is tied with Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer. UConn’s Geno Auriemma has 11, the late Pat Summitt earned eight with Tennessee, and LSU’s Kim Mulkey has four.
The Gamecocks capped off a remarkable season with a perfect 38-0 record. A feat only 10 teams in Division I history achieved. They join the ranks of UConn (six times), Baylor (2011-12), Tennessee (1997-98), and Texas (1985-86) as the only programs to accomplish this remarkable goal.
“I’m just super happy for our staff,” coach Staley said. “They work really hard. They are incredible basketball — like, I think they’re savants. I think they are always looking for ways in which to get our players better in a way that they can handle it, not in the way we see it, because the way we see it is probably — the way we would handle it would be difficult for them to actually learn and apply and execute in a basketball sense.”
Under Staley’s leadership, the Gamecocks have been a force to reckon with. They have recorded a staggering 109-3 record in the last three seasons and clinched two national championships.
The Gamecocks fell behind early and battled back with defense, depth, and Kamilla Cardoso.
“Kamilla Cardoso was not going to let us lose a game in the NCAA tournament,” Staley said. “She played through an injury, she played like one of the top picks in the WNBA draft and her teammates did something that no teammates have done for anybody who went to the WNBA in our program. They send her off as a national champion. So this is history for us.”
South Carolina will be back in the mix next year; Cardoso is the only key player they are expected to lose.
Staley had compiled 612 wins in her fantastic coaching career.
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