Philadelphia Phillies Congratulate Dawn Staley On NCAA Championship

Dawn Staley did Philadelphia proud again as she led her South Carolina Gamecocks to their third NCAA women's basketball national championship.

Apr 7, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley cuts the net after / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Philadelphia native Dawn Staley led the South Carolina Gamecocks to their third NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday, beating Iowa, 87-75, in Cleveland.

The victory capped an incredible season for the Gamecocks, who became the rare team to win an undefeated national championship.

The Gamecocks finished the season 38-0 and joined UConn (6 times), Baylor (2011-12), Tennessee (1997-98) and Texas (1985-86) as the only teams to win a national title with an undefeated season.

Staley also made history.

She became just the fifth coach to win at least three national championships, joining UConn’s Geno Auriemma (11), Tennessee’s Pat Summitt (eight), LSU’s Kim Mulkey (four), and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer (three).

The Philadelphia Phillies showed their appreciation for Staley after the victory was complete.

Congratulations to Philly’s own, and Phanatic favorite, @dawnstaley! 🙌🏆 pic.twitter.com/cRc4L7DpUt

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 7, 2024

Staley was born in Philadelphia in 1970 and became a city legend in high school at Dobbins Tech, where future Loyola Marymount stars Bo Kimble and the late Hank Gathers also played.

Staley was the national player of the year her senior year at Dobbins Tech and then played college basketball at Virginia, where she led the Cavaliers to three Final Four appearances and a national title game, but no championship. She was a two-time Naismith College Player of the Year.

She played professional overseas after graduation and also played for the U.S. National team, eventually winning three Olympic Gold Medals as a player (1996, 2000, 2004) and then another as the team’s head coach in the 2020 Olympics.

As she wrapped up her professional career in the WNBA, she took over as coach at Temple in 2000 and led the Owls for eight seasons, winning 172 games and leading them to six NCAA Tournament appearances.

Staley took the job at South Carolina in 2008 and has turned the Gamecocks into one of the game’s premier programs.

She’s won more than 400 games, taken her program to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 12 non-COVID seasons, and to the Final Four each of the last four tournaments.