Dawn Staley confirms she would never leave South Carolina despite clause in new contract

Dawn Staley says a clause in her new contract means nothing about how long she’ll be at South Carolina.

Following Sunday’s win over Oklahoma, Staley addressed a section of her extension that she signed to end last week. The deal, which made her the highest-paid coach in the history of women’s basketball at approximately just over $25 million over five years, included a portion where she’d owe them nothing if she were to immediately leave for another job in the NBA or WNBA. When asked about it postgame yesterday, Staley had a little fun with the question.

“I don’t know. I might up and leave,” Staley joked.

In seriousness, Staley explained that everything within the contract, like that clause, was just part of the negotiation for both her and for South Carolina.

“Nah, I mean, you got to have something. It’s a give and take, you know,” said Staley. “Like, like, if, you know, there was – it was important for me to have a guaranteed contract. It’s important, you know. But, in having a guaranteed contract, you got to give them something, you know.”

Still, while she could leave Columbia at any time now because of it, Staley has no interest in doing so. She stated that she’d never leave their program for another college team. She also said, if she had wanted to go to the pros, she would have done so long before now.

“I will never leave here to go take another college job. It’s nothing. Like, I have the best of the best here,” Staley said. “And I really don’t have, um, any – like, I don’t have a passion for the next level. I don’t. I would’ve been gone. Like, seriously, like.”

Staley is in the middle of her 17th season with the Gamecocks with her having posted a winning percentage of .771, including a current record of 18-1. That resumé includes 630 total wins, sixteen conference titles, and a dozen straight berths in the NCAA Tournament with five appearances in the Final Four and three national titles.

With that, Staley is one of the best coaches, regardless of level and men’s or women’s, in basketball. She’ll keep coaching at South Carolina from here on, though, despite that wording in her extension.

“So, to have it in there was – it was just something fancy to have you ask me that question,” again laughed Staley.