Dawn Staley pressed on transgender athletes on eve of title game: ‘If you consider yourself a woman, you should be able to play’

On the eve of a highly anticipated national championship game, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was asked about transgender athletes participating in women’s sports. The Gamecocks will take on Iowa on Sunday in what could be a landmark day for women’s basketball.

Staley addressed the question head-on when asked about her position on transgender athletes in sports, saying she thinks anyone who is a woman or identifies as a woman should have the opportunity to play.

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“Damn, you got deep on me, didn’t you?” Staley started. “I’m on the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.”

Staley then asked if the person asking the question wanted her to “go deeper” into her answer. On a follow-up question on if she thinks transgender women should be able to participate, she acknowledged the point of the initial question and the timing of it.

If her timeline blows up, she said, that’s fine with her.

“That’s the question you want to ask,” Staley said. “I’ll give you that. Yes. Yes.

“So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m okay with that. I really am.”

Hype building for Women’s national championship

Dawn Staley and South Carolina entered the Final Four with an undefeated record for the second straight season. Last year, the Gamecocks fell to Iowa in the semifinal as Caitlin Clark dropped 41 points to help spearhead the upset.

Sunday, they will square off again in the national championship. South Carolina is again undefeated, bringing a perfect 37-0 record into the matchup, while Clark and Iowa held on to defeat UConn in the Final Four to set up the national title showdown.

The championship game also has high expectations from a TV ratings perspective.

Viewership surged throughout the regular season, and that trend has continued into the NCAA Tournament. Monday’s Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU became the most-watched college basketball game in ESPN history with an average of 12.3 million people watching.

But it’s not just the Hawkeyes drawing eyes. The game in the late slate that night – UConn vs. USC – drew an average of 6.7 million viewers as the Huskies defeated the Trojans to set up a date with Iowa. Viewership numbers for Friday’s games had not been announced at the time of publication.