Dawn Staley USC Contract: All-Time Highest Paid College Women’s Basketball Coach
Friday, January 17, 2025 at 02:25PM By Barry Janoff
Photo: USCJanuary 17, 2025: Dawn Staley has had and continues to have numerous career accolades. Now she adds one that is a financial game-changer.
Defining her as “a once-in-a-generation coach,” the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees today unveiled a contract extension for women’s basketball head coach Staley “that will go through the 2029-30 season and make her the highest paid college women’s basketball coach in the history of the sport.”
The contract, which began immediately following Board approval, starts with an annual salary of $4 million, includes a $500,00 signing bonus and an annual $250,000 escalator, making the total value approximately $25.25 million.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey was the highest-paid coach at $3.264 million.
If Staley takes another college coaching job before her contract expires on April 15, 2030, she will owe the school "an amount equal to the coach's guaranteed annual compensation, pro-rated, for the remaining term of the agreement as if it naturally expired on April 15, 2030,” according to Yahoo Sports.
However, if Staley accepts a job coaching a WNBA or NBA team, she will not be obligated to pay anything to South Carolina.
“Dawn Staley is a once-in-a-generation coach who has made a tremendous impact on the University of South Carolina,” athletics director Jeremiah Donati said via the University.
“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.”
Staley is a five-time National Coach of the Year. Since being named head coach in May 2008, the South Carolina Gamecocks are just one of five programs to have at least three NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championships: 2017, 2022, 2024.
Staley has led South Carolina to six of the last nine NCAA Final Fours, including each of the last four.
“I’m proud to represent the University of South Carolina and of its investment in women’s basketball,” Staley said via the University.
“What we’ve been able to accomplish on the court is a testament to what can happen when you bring together the right people from a team perspective but also have the right commitment from the University, the Athletics Department and the community to providing that team with everything it needs to be successful.”
Under Staley’s tutelage, 11 Gamecocks have amassed 27 All-America honors, including two National Players of the Year: A’ja Wilson (2018) and Aliyah Boston (2022).
She has seen 14 Gamecocks taken in the WNBA Draft in the last nine seasons, including a pair of No. 1 overall picks in Wilson (Las Vegas Aces 2018) and Boston (Indiana Fever 2022).
Three of those 14
picks earned WNBA Rookie of the Year honors (Wilson, Boston, Allisha Gray) and three others made their WNBA All-Rookie Teams.
Staley was named head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team in May 2017 and led the team to its record-tying seventh-straight Olympic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games (played in 2021 due to COVID-19)..
As a player, Staley had a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame career, which included five WNBA All-Star appearances and three Olympic gold medals.
Her impact is also felt in her vocal support for women and female athletes.
"I think women's sports has been held back for a very long time and now we're at a place where we're in high demand,” she said this past August during an interview with MSNBC.
“There's room for everybody but in a way in which where we have to do it strategically where it makes sense. I'm glad we are in this place, I do think that it's a movement that people are joining in on.”
Among other endeavors, Staley has filmed a series of videos as a spokesperson for Aflac to “bring awareness to women's sports and the opportunities this game has given her and the South Carolina Women's Basketball team.”
She is featured in Aflac's new national TV spot, “Duck Dunk.”
“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,” said Staley via USC.
“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.”
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