I know it's early, but what Dawn has done with this team so far is nothing short of amazing. After a blowout loss to Baylor in NCAA tournament, Dawn was blindsided with 4 players entering the transfer portal (3 of which were likely anticipated starters for this season) and a unproven but highly rated freshman class coming in. After losing 7 scholarship players in one season, most schools would be rebuilding this year but despite those previous obstacles Dawn and company has built a solid top 5 team that starts mostly freshmen who are already playing great basketball before we even started SEC play. The most impressive feat that Dawn has accomplished with this team, is that they appear to be very unselfish and ego free despite all the talent competing for minutes, especially the upperclassmen who seem to embrace the freshmen starting over them. Dawn gets a lot of credit for being a great coach but considering everything that happened in the offseason, this may be her best work yet.
Dawn Staley Underrated for her role this Season
- Thread starter Gamekem
- Start date
I am not sure why you call her underrated? She is a highly respected coach and is paid very well. I agree with your comments. This team is very young and fun to watch. I hope they can stay the course and win another title.
Underrated by who? She is a big figure in town and respected by WBB folks. The sport just isn't a very popular sport in the US so she isn't going to get attention like Saban, Coach K, or someone like that
Legend
& she represents my school. Everything she does has class & grace.
I would never say no to a leader like her.
& she caught a touchdown from Dylan Thompson!
Olympic Flag Bearer
Legend
& she represents my school. Everything she does has class & grace.
I would never say no to a leader like her.
& she caught a touchdown from Dylan Thompson!
Olympic Flag Bearer
Legend
She has a resume that reads like Hollywood script. I get what you're saying. But underrated is prolly not the right word. But what she is doing with team featuring 4 freshmen is unheard of!
I guess underrated isn't the right word. But as a career in most circles I don't think she's underrated at all. But for this season in particular I don't believe she's getting her proper due, on how well she's pulling of the season. I'm not sure other top tier coaches like Mulkey or ever McGraw could pull it off as well as she has. considering we were potentially on the brink of disaster in the off-season.
Over $2M per year and future USC AD. I think the respect level is off the chart for this young lady.
I don’t consider Mc Grade to be a top coach. She has had great talent and not done a lot with it. WTH is a Muffett anyway ?
A perfect example of Dawn's coaching prowess occurred just the other day; Duke got off to a relatively fast start in the first five minutes. At the first media timeout, Dawn tweaked her defense a hair and shut them down for the rest of the game, until our scrubs came in for the 4th quarter.
I don’t think there are any scrubs on this team.
True that. There are some more talented than others. But, they can all play and still very young
FWIW Dawn looks to be a permanent fixture here as she has one gorgeous house being built on the banks of the Congaree.
It also says a lot about her recent recruiting. Seems like the frosh are true team players, and we don't have any notable prima donnas on this year's squad.
It took her less time to when a Championship than Pat and Geno. Her resume is spectacular. Anybody that thinks she can't Coach. Is either jealous, hater, or racist. We are lucky to have her.
I think Dawn is one of the best coaches in the game. With that said, let’s be honest. The current team is LOADED. Without taking anything away from our extremely talented coach, she started this season in a great spot. Regarding today, I bet Dawn isn’t happy they only won by 13.
Was there. This team has an awesome concept of team. Sat right behind the bench. These girls are team. You can see it on their faces during timeouts. No jealousy or pouting. And they do all get to play (for the most part) significant minutes. Defensively so darn quick with their hands and feet. The younger ones know how to pass and handle the ball and play defense. Wise beyond their years as well as talented. Kiki, Lele, Victaria, Destanni, and of course 52 all play well with them. Wonderful to watch. Regarding South Dakota they played a great game once they got used to the quickness. They had talent and the tall skinny girl and a couple of others were darn good. They didn’t crumble under the pressure like Duke did. Got a picture with Beal who is very sweet and nice and built very solid but not thick. Great defender and can score. They all hang around and socialize after the game. It’s great! Once Boston and Amihere get where they play higher with the ball they will be pretty hard to cope with. Boston just can take up space and is very talented. Amihere is tall and slender but moves very well almost like a guard sometimes. The two young point guards Cooke and Henderson are almost a blur and all of them push it hard and play very fast. Lele is really moving well and moves a lot, gets open, and rebounds well and has fun in the game and smiles all the time! This is going to be fun for us!!
Not gonna happen here. We have learned that promoting a highly successful, National Championship winning HC in any sport to be the AD of our sports programs is NOT a wise business decision.
The three you reference that may have been starters, why did they leave? If they were going to be starters it would make no sense to me as to why they would leave.
Last edited:
I'm still taken back about the way Boston is playing as a true freshmen.
Well one of them, Kiki is still a starter for this team. Cooper our leading scorer "decided" to leave for greener pastures and Jackson in my opinion left prematurely due to a disappointing sophomore season. I think there was a strong likelihood these three ladies would have started for us this season with Cooke and Beal coming off the bench. But in the end I think our team is even better with some of these transfers.
Agreed. Several of those players who left were extremely talented players, but without naming names, I think we got addition through subtraction.
The only player that left that might have started this season was Te'a Cooper, but she wanted to start at PG and she wasn't going to beat out Ty Harris for the job. She took her tail to Baylor because she thought she'd have a better chance at a national championship and guess who beat them?
She is underrated on a national scale... Simply because almost nobody watches or cares about womens’ sports. Fact.
She should be looked at for openings for major mens’ teams, that would get her the pub she deserves. There was joking talk of her taking over the MBB team here before we hired Frank... If she is still around next time we have a turnover at that position I think we should consider her. Who knows if she would even want it but we can offer her a bigger salary, would get a ton of press (for her and the school) and who does not know her name in basketball? I bet she is one of the few women coaches who could recruit well across that line and demand the respect of male players on the court. If she is concerned about getting more publicity/recognition/ NOT being “underrated”... winning as a MBB coach is how she can get it, and is virtually the only way she can get any more respect nationally and any more name recognition than she already has.
She should be looked at for openings for major mens’ teams, that would get her the pub she deserves. There was joking talk of her taking over the MBB team here before we hired Frank... If she is still around next time we have a turnover at that position I think we should consider her. Who knows if she would even want it but we can offer her a bigger salary, would get a ton of press (for her and the school) and who does not know her name in basketball? I bet she is one of the few women coaches who could recruit well across that line and demand the respect of male players on the court. If she is concerned about getting more publicity/recognition/ NOT being “underrated”... winning as a MBB coach is how she can get it, and is virtually the only way she can get any more respect nationally and any more name recognition than she already has.
U
Under appreciated is probably a more apt word. She is LOVED here, but on a national level, she still takes a backseat to several others.
Similar threads
