Lookup and the primary belongings you’ll see inside South Carolina’s follow fitness center are the portraits of the gamers she’s coached, mentored, impressed: first-round WNBA draft picks together with A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, Alaina Coates, Allisha Grey, Kaela Davis, Laeticia Amihere, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, Ty Harris and Zia Cooke. They function a reminder to anybody who steps within the fitness center that, even inside a whole athletic program, The Daybreak Staley Period is, and has at all times been, on the forefront. She’s the one Gamecocks basketball coach—males’s or ladies’s—to amass 300 wins, and the one Black head coach in hoops—males’s or ladies’s—to win a number of nationwide championships. Look throughout the fitness center and also you’ll discover there are phrases plastered on the partitions that replicate what she embodies, too: TOUGHNESS, PASSION, FAMILY.
When the legend herself walks in carrying an all-white match, her aura and power is mesmerizing. Her presence instructions the whole room. This is similar visionary who simply led her workforce to an undefeated season and this system’s third nationwide championship, a feat only a few anticipated them to perform. That is the very trailblazer who’s the best paid Black coach in all of ladies’s basketball. That is the Daybreak Staley, the dream service provider who has led not only a program, however the tradition, into a brand new day the place nobody can deny what she’s accomplished and nobody can doubt that she is likely one of the greats. It’s written within the banners, within the stars, and on this very cowl. She is in cost. The CEO of excellence.
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Along with her proper hand man, Champ, prancing a couple of steps behind her, Staley exudes calm, cool and picked up as she walks onto set. Biggie is blasting by the audio system within the background, serving as the proper anthem for what we’re attempting to seize: her aura, her power and all that rattling swaggggg. Not solely is that this Daybreak’s first-ever solo SLAM cowl, nevertheless it’s the primary time ever that any coach has had their very own cowl for the journal. Immediately is about capturing the legacy of somebody who’s method greater than the field scores—however, if we’re talkin’ hoops, a legacy that features 38 straight wins this previous season. The Gamecocks had been out right here destroying groups by upwards of fifty, 60, nah, 80 factors per recreation.
As legendary photographer Diwang Valdez snaps away, Staley, who’s now carrying the workforce’s 2024 Nationwide Champions tee, effortlessly poses in entrance of the digicam. Simply while you suppose the flicks couldn’t get any extra fly, Daybreak turns issues up with one other outfit change. This time she’s rocking a black blazer, tearaway joggers and, in fact, a crisp Louis Vuitton tee. She goes from giving delicate smiles and playful banter to reworking, as she leans again into the chair she’s now sitting in, crosses her legs and rests her elbow on a basketball. She stares into the lens, giving the identical look that we’ve seen from her on the court docket. It’s deeply methodical, poetic even. Proper now, Daybreak means enterprise.
That is the face of somebody who has personified power, resilience and authenticity for many years. Right here, she offers us a glimpse into her thoughts and her magic—a dialog that’s as a lot about basketball as it’s about how she sees individuals, her legacy, and—with true sincerity—herself.
SLAM: You’ve talked about previously the way you didn’t actually have an curiosity in teaching, no less than early on. Are you able to convey us again to while you had been enjoying within the WNBA and training at Temple on the similar time?
Daybreak Staley: One of the vital gratifying moments of my life was to have the ability to play after which be capable of coach all on the similar time. As a result of it performed on each side of my mind and the fervour was on full show. If any of the youthful gamers within the WNBA ever have the chance to do each, they might discover that it’s so fulfilling. You’re in a position to get out the aggression of enjoying whereas additionally being a dream service provider for youthful gamers and giving them an expertise that you’re truly dwelling. Plenty of coaches have to return in time to that place once they had been enjoying, however while you’re in a position to do it in actual time, it’s an automated respect out of your gamers as a result of they know you’re doing the very factor that you simply’re asking them to do and to be disciplined at.
SLAM: You usually consult with your self not simply as a coach however a “dream service provider.” Are you able to elaborate on what you imply?
DS: Anyone that’s teaching this recreation, that’s what you might be. I do know we strive to determine our function in teaching, and it’s simply that: being a dream service provider for younger individuals. Serving to younger individuals discover their ardour [and] work in the direction of that. It’s not at all times basketball—it’s not. For 90 % of them, it’s not basketball. It is determining what you need to do, as a result of I would like individuals to work of their ardour. It’s a lot simpler to work in your ardour if that’s what you do each day. The actual world actually is taxing. It pulls you in plenty of completely different instructions and for those who’re not captivated with it, you aren’t going to present it your full effort. And possibly half of you is sweet sufficient in some situations, however for you as an individual, your success is most essential.
So, what does a dream service provider do? That particular person guides, that particular person helps to navigate, that particular person is a listener [and] an observer. That particular person is somebody that’s reliable of not solely the student-athlete however everyone that touches that student-athlete, as a result of it’s not only a one-way avenue. All younger individuals have individuals of their lives that influence them. I discover that younger individuals discuss to their mother and father each single day…I believe again to once I was their age, I most likely talked to my mother or my dad possibly twice a month. And when that was? When the funds had been low. However they discuss to them every single day, so I’m like, OK, nicely, I could have to vary my type. I could need to pivot a little bit bit as a result of I need to be the most important voice in my gamers’ heads, and if it’s the mother and father which have entry in that method, in speaking to their daughters every single day, [then] I gotta discuss to the mother and father.
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SLAM: Who had been your mentors? And did any coaches encourage you?
DS: I actually didn’t have teaching mentors. I’m extra of a non-public particular person. I don’t like to point out weak point, and that’s most likely a downfall of mine, nevertheless it’s the very factor that retains me going, as a result of it has me working. It at all times has me getting ready for the worst, and I don’t prefer to take my issues to anyone else. I’ll say I’ve individuals in my life that I bounce issues off that [are not] as near the sport as most likely another coaches, and I like them to present me suggestions from the surface trying in, as a result of when it’s all stated and accomplished, I prefer to be lined. My thoughts works as a basketball coach more often than not, so I’m at all times in search of basketball issues to show classes to our gamers as a result of I imagine that typically they study higher from that standpoint.
After which, if I get recommendation from any individual that’s not within the basketball world, I can stability that and be sure that I’m giving our gamers what I see, in addition to what any individual else may even see that I’m not masking.
SLAM: Has your method to teaching modified at everywhere in the years? Are there issues that labored early in your profession that won’t work now and vice versa?
DS: We’re in an period the place we have now to pivot. What labored 24 years in the past is not going to work at this time. I’ll say this: The core ideas of who I’m as an individual and coach doesn’t change. [The] battles I struggle? They modify. Take as an example this 12 months—my method was completely completely different than my method in simply the latest years. Lately, we had a bunch of gamers that acquired it. They understood the task and what they wanted to do and so they executed on and off the court docket, in order that they gave us no points. I used to be simply in a position to be a basketball coach.
This 12 months, they had been completely different. They had been youthful, their method was completely different. They had been lackluster, they didn’t actually have a plan as people—they could have thought they’d a plan. Their plan was simply to play extra. You possibly can method it that method, nevertheless it’s shallow, so that you gotta put one thing behind it. We labored from a spot that we hadn’t labored from in a very long time, which was, Hit the bottom operating. We couldn’t [even do that] as a result of they couldn’t run, they had been outta form. They got here in simply considering, I wanna play. I sat for a very long time. It’s my time. Effectively, their time, and who they thought was taking their time, [the] method was lots completely different. Zia, Aliyah, Brea [Beal], all of them got here in form. Each time that we needed to come again in the summertime, so we may hit the bottom operating…It was extra of making higher self-discipline and habits, as a result of they hadn’t shaped it to the diploma of them being able to rock and roll. So, I checked out it as a problem, and as soon as I checked out it [as that], I acquired extra passionate behind it as a result of I’m drawn to challenges. It was cool as a result of they did educate me [that] there are a variety of the way to achieve success and numerous methods to method issues.
One of many battles that I didn’t struggle that I usually struggle: if everyone had the identical sweatsuit on, and one particular person didn’t, I knew that they spoke to that particular person. I knew it. I may see it, I’m taking a look at [it] and it seems to be unusual to me…I approached it as a mistake that had been dealt with. However that’s one of many issues I didn’t struggle, as a result of I knew this workforce had a method of delivering the message that I might ship.
SLAM: As you talked about, the beginning of the season was a little bit completely different for you. What do you attribute this 12 months’s success to?
DS: We’ve had the perfect workforce within the nation previous to this 12 months, I might say for years. One of the best workforce within the nation and this one ended up being the perfect workforce within the nation by means of default, so to talk. However it was a method that was shaped by them and I’ll give all of them the credit score as a result of they may’ve balked, they may’ve stated, I must be beginning—for some time, they may’ve stated, I’m the It. I must be beginning. Tessa [Johnson could’ve been like], I may play with the perfect of them. Let me get a few of Breezy’s time. Let me get a few of Raven’s time. [But] they didn’t. Truly, the children simply allowed the older gamers to information them to the purpose the place they had been so assured getting into the basketball recreation that they knew that they had been going to make an influence. They usually saved holding one another accountable. Ashlyn [Watkins] discovered her superpower, and her superpower is on each side of the basketball, nevertheless it was additionally main. Her voice was prevalent in huddles, and it acquired to the purpose the place they didn’t need to lose. It wasn’t even being undefeated, they only didn’t need to lose. It was nothing about successful each recreation, however within the second of every recreation, they didn’t need to lose. So, they might pay attention to one another and so they had been very coachable, after which we simply acquired momentum. We saved pushing by after which after we acquired to the Ultimate 4, they had been like, We gonna win this factor.
Earlier than the nationwide championship recreation, they had been speaking main money ish. The coaches’ locker room is linked to the massive locker room, and we don’t go in there [to] allow them to have their house. I’m too near the state of affairs, I don’t need to hear them, [but] they’re like, We’re going to kick their A, and I’m like, Lord, they don’t know what they don’t know. Both we’re going to get blown out, or we’re going to blow any individual out as a result of they had been speaking. And I do know they’re hyping themselves up, however as coaches, , we gotta go on the market and face Caitlin [Clark] and them. Like, they acquired themselves right here, they acquired momentum.
As coaches, too, we might ask one another, You consuming the Kool-Help? We might actually ask one another. So, for essentially the most half we had been like, Nah, we ain’t consuming it. In direction of the top of the 12 months, we requested, How about now? You consuming the Kool-Help? I’m like, I’m sippin’. I ain’t taking an enormous gulp, however I’m sippin’. As a result of they’re placing it on show. I believe, simply general as I replicate, it was a brilliant cool journey and surroundings to be round them. They only performed free. I instructed this to a good friend, I stated, “They performed free.”…So, I believe that was actually type of cool for them to take us coaches down their journey. It’s often, like, our journey—how we need to direct them and information them. Nah. Nah, we acquired on their practice and we rode their coattails.
SLAM: Now that you simply’ve completed all of it—going undefeated, successful your third chip—how does it really feel?
DS: It feels nice, like critically. It’s unbelievable to me…[The] 2022 [team] appeared the half. They appeared the half, they performed the half. They performed simply freer, however with stress. After which this group was simply not like any of them. I don’t suppose anyone noticed it coming. We didn’t see it coming, in order that’s what I like about it. I’m sitting [here] and I’m joyful…I need to share our story. I need to share the nice, the dangerous, the ugly but in addition the probability of another person doing what we did—I need to give them hope, as a result of we didn’t appear to be a nationwide championship workforce firstly of the season. We appeared like many of the groups within the nation, so we’re relatable to many of the groups. If we may do it, anyone may do it.
SLAM: Your legacy reaches far past Xs and Os, wins and losses. We may go on and on, however what do you, Daybreak Staley, need your legacy to be?
DS: I would like my legacy to be an “odds beater.” I’m an odds beater. The chances stated that I wouldn’t be an Olympian, I wouldn’t be the top coach of an Olympic workforce. To have coached 24 years on this recreation, I do know that I don’t care a couple of private legacy. I need to let my gamers discuss concerning the legacy that they had been in a position to really feel every single day from our teaching workers. I don’t need to say something, they are saying it. Traditionally talking, you don’t actually hear my title as being an incredible coach, whether or not it’s X-ing and O-ing. I’m most likely identified to be a participant’s coach, no matter which means. However to win three nationwide championships, to not be an X and O coach and solely be a participant’s coach, I believe we’re doing fairly good. If the X-ing and O-ing coaches aren’t successful nationwide championships, I do know they might most likely flip it and be a participant’s coach, if it produces nationwide championships. I actually don’t care about any of that, however what I do care about is our gamers, their experiences [and] their legacy, as a result of the extra of a legacy they’ve, it comes again. I simply need to do proper by our gamers.
SLAM: You’ve seen ladies’s basketball skyrocket from a enterprise standpoint, beginning out of your enjoying days to what it’s at this time. What has it been prefer to see this transformation in actual time?
DS: Ladies’s basketball is tremendous cool, now. I might say now. It was tremendous cool to me once I was rising up enjoying it and going to school as a result of I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now that I do know what I learn about our recreation, one, we’ve been deliberately held again. I do know that as a result of it simply doesn’t come out of nowhere. It looks as if our recreation has simply come out of nowhere and now everyone is falling in love with it, after we know completely different. We all know that again once I was enjoying in ’88, in faculty, in ’89, individuals had been watching. They’d tune in. I do know it as a result of I do know once I go to completely different locations, I’m extra identified for taking part in at Virginia than something. So, they had been watching it.
So, what occurs between then and now? Choice makers are making some actually good calls in terms of our recreation…They know that ladies’s basketball is a mainstay. So, the most important distinction now’s we’re being handled like an actual sport. The great, the dangerous and the ugly as a result of in sports activities you’ve got storylines, like a Caitlin Clark. In our recreation you’ve got storylines of us being undefeated, successful a nationwide championship. You’ve acquired Juju [Watkins], Hannah [Hidalgo], MiLaysia [Fulwiley], all of those storylines which might be being performed out now as a result of the followers need increasingly and extra. And now, lastly, and possibly, it’s the brand new negotiated TV deal that’s permitting us to proceed to develop. Perhaps there’s any individual within the room that’s ensuring that we have now completely different individuals telling our tales. You bought Elle Duncan, Chiney Ogwumike, Aliyah Boston, [Andraya] Carter, Carolyn Peck…I believed that complete crew broke basketball down like no different. Wasn’t biased, as a result of we gotta get the bias out of our recreation. So, you noticed what occurs when it’s unbiased. It was completely stunning.
SLAM: You don’t look like the sort to chase milestones or historical past, it simply kind of finds its method to you. With that being stated, is there something that you’ve your eyes set on earlier than you bow out of teaching?
DS: Selfishly, it’s only one factor that I needed out of this recreation: I needed to be a Corridor of Famer. So, I went in [to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame] in 2013 as a participant. Now, I do need to go in as a coach.
Portraits by Diwang Valdez. Motion images through Getty Pictures.
