(Photo credit score: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley signed a contract extension Friday that makes her the highest-paid coach in girls’s faculty basketball historical past.
The four-time Naismith National Coach of the Year is signed by means of the 2029-30 season. Starting instantly, she is going to earn an annual wage of $4 million and an annual $250,000 increase. That places the full worth of the deal at $25.25 million, plus she is going to obtain a $500,000 bonus.
Staley, 54, has led the Gamecocks to 3 nationwide championships (2017, 2022 and 2024) and 6 Final Fours since taking on in Columbia, S.C., in 2008.
“Dawn Staley is a once-in-a-generation coach who has made a tremendous impact on the University of South Carolina,” athletic director Jeremiah Donati mentioned. “She has elevated the sport of women’s basketball on the national level and here on campus and I am excited that she will be representing our University for many years to come.”
Coming off an unbeaten 38-0 season in 2023-24, South Carolina (17-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) is using a 12-game successful streak and ranked No. 2 within the Associated Press Top 25.
“I’m proud to represent the University of South Carolina and of its investment in women’s basketball,” Staley mentioned in a news launch. “What we have been capable of accomplish on the courtroom is a testomony to what can occur whenever you deliver collectively the correct folks from a staff perspective but in addition have the correct dedication from the University, the Athletics Department and the neighborhood to offering that staff with all the pieces it must be profitable.
“I appreciate every person who has been part of our journey — player, staff member, University President and leadership, Board of Trustee member, athletics director, athletics department employee and fan. I look forward to continuing to be an example of how an investment in women’s basketball is one that will pay off for everyone.”
Staley has compiled a file of 457-107 at South Carolina. She is 629-187 general together with her tenure at Temple in her hometown of Philadelphia from 2000-08.
Following an All-American profession at Virginia, Staley was a five-time All-Star within the WNBA. She received three Olympic gold medals as a participant and coached the U.S. to the gold on the Tokyo Summer Games. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and will probably be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2025.
–Field Level Media