Dawn Staley isn’t here for the drama. She’s here to protect the game
· Yahoo Sports
PHOENIX — Dawn Staley keeps talking about debt. She doesn’t often entertain her personal legacy. She refuses to escalate the feud with Geno Auriemma. The credit mongers and controversy fiends can line up next if they want to try her.
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It won’t matter.
The former point guard isn’t going to commit a turnover.
“I love basketball,” the esteemed South Carolina women’s coach said. “Like, it’s my passion. It is the very thing I don’t cheat on.”
That’s more than a comment. That’s a code.
If you happened to pay attention Friday night — and if you didn’t, are you even alive? — you saw that code in action. After Auriemma verbally accosted her, you saw the lava bubbling within Staley. Then you saw her cool down without causing any more damage than spattering a series of reactionary curse words. She had every reason to prolong the dispute, either in the moment or during postgame interviews. Instead, she made a harder choice.
She showed restraint.
In one incident, she revealed all of her: the intensity, the tenacity, the grace and the responsibility. She didn’t let the nastiness sprawl. She recovered quickly and saw the bigger picture. With South Carolina and UCLA set to play in Sunday’s national championship game, the sport needed someone to lower the temperature. Of course, Staley would do it.
For the past decade, she has been the face, the voice and the conscience of women’s basketball. It’s a weight to carry, and she is far from perfect. She can be petty. She can be stubborn. Like all coaches, she must feel in control at all times. Yet when it really matters, Staley puts basketball ahead of herself.
If Auriemma had done the same, this dustup would have been nothing. Maybe he would have done an awkward drive-by handshake instead of instigating a screaming match. Or maybe he would have shown contrition immediately after the game instead of issuing an apology the next day to try to quell a full-blown disaster.
It’s hard to be a caretaker for an entire industry. Staley chose to protect her team’s sterling accomplishment. She tried to keep the focus on what happened rather than winning a war of words. No one wants to admit it, but she even gave Auriemma a clearer path forward by not articulating the shock of seeing an unglued man shouting at her.
It was commendable leadership in the heat of the moment. She managed to be forceful while also controlling herself and her team and grasping the enormity of the moment.
“I won’t let my bubble voice come out,” she said Saturday.
On the morning after the chaos, Staley could joke about not wanting to be a cartoon character whose thoughts were displayed for all to see.
She epitomized grace.
“I had a praying mother, right?” she said, explaining how she stays focused.
But she couldn’t resist throwing a jab.
“I grew up in the projects of North Philly, right?” she said, emphasizing the word “north” to continue a running tease about Auriemma embracing a Philadelphia rep despite growing up in Norristown, Pa., a northern suburb. “Philly – 215, 267 area codes. So nothing — nothing — can derail us, or me, from staying with the task at hand.
“There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life. You are either going to address them and let it overcome (you), or you stick with the task at hand.”
She cracked open the door to clap back at a later date: “I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand. At some point, everything is going to be addressed. Today, this weekend, won’t be one of them.”
That’s a compelling cliffhanger, but we will see — perhaps on Nov. 24, when they meet in a showcase game. If Staley wins her fourth national title, she will be so busy counting her blessings that she might decline having the last word. She lives with a greater purpose.
“I feel like I owe basketball,” Staley said. “Like, basketball has been incredible to me, to my family. And I always feel like I have to repay it.”
Her restraint is neither passive nor diplomatic. It is competitive restraint. She will not take any bait because there’s so much more to do, for herself and others.
“Coach Staley is a great coach,” fifth-year senior guard Raven Johnson said. “Not even a great coach, a great human being. I think she lets people be comfortable with who they are. No matter who you are, I think she tries to instill confidence in each player.
“Players that want to dig in deep and play for something bigger than themselves. They want to play for each other, for her, for South Carolina. It’s bigger than just the game of basketball, honestly.”
After the spat, Johnson high-fived Staley when she came back to the South Carolina bench. It lightened the mood. Soon after, Staley centered herself.
“I honestly just saw her screaming,” Johnson said. “It’s something she doesn’t usually do. I ran over to her quick. Like, I don’t play about Coach Staley at all. We’ve been through a lot together. She fights for each one of us outside of basketball.”
That fight never ends. At South Carolina, Staley does more than stack Final Fours, collect national titles and boost the self-esteem of an entire state. Her program is more than a competitive inevitability. It is full of bounce-back spirit. It is a place where people develop. Staley will not retreat from that mission, not even when she’s hollering about showing Auriemma her right hook.
She’s not furthering a legacy. She’s repaying a debt. That’s why she flipped from boiling to calm so quickly.
If you think you own your success, you protect it at all costs. If you think you owe the game, you serve it. Staley has a 180-10 record over the past five seasons, but winning isn’t just something she takes. It’s something she returns.
The kid from North Philly has a code. She will not cheat the game. In the aftermath of an ugly altercation, the sport still prospers because, in Staley’s mind, her basketball account will never be settled.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's College Basketball, Opinion
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