{"id":193579,"date":"2025-09-02T07:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T07:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193579\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T07:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T07:50:13","slug":"that-is-the-most-uncanny-thing-when-dawn-staley-reflected-on-the-two-goals-that-shaped-her-basketball-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193579\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThat Is the Most Uncanny Thing\u201d: When Dawn Staley Reflected on the Two Goals That Shaped Her Basketball Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley<\/a> once revealed the only two goals she had in her life that eventually shaped the rest of her basketball career. In Jan. 2022, she appeared on now-LA Lakers coach JJ Reddick and Tommy Alter\u2019s \u201cThe Young Man and the Three\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

Reddick posed a question to Staley about what she thought her next steps would be when she stopped playing basketball for a career. This is because of a prior interview of Staley that Reddick brought up, in which she had said she didn\u2019t want to become a coach. Staley then revealed her life goals.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYou know what, you\u2019re going to find it strange, but the only two goals that I had in life were an Olympic gold medal and a national championship. Like, I didn\u2019t get one in college, so I thought that was long gone. I don\u2019t set goals. Honestly, I do believe my career and my life have divine intervention. I\u2019ll get what I\u2019m supposed to get when I\u2019m supposed to get it,\u201d Staley shared (40:31).<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is the most uncanny thing, and I\u2019m in the profession of helping young people set goals in life,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Later that year, Staley and the Gamecocks<\/a> won their second national title after they defeated the UConn Huskies by 15 points, 64-49, in the 2022 national championship game. Since then, South Carolina has also won the 2024 national title, giving them a total of three NCAA titles.<\/p>\n

Read More: \u201cIt Never Stopped Me From Imagining\u201d: When Dawn Staley Opened Up on Her Sideline Fashion and North Philly Roots<\/a><\/p>\n

When Dawn Staley shared that her goal is to help her players build their future<\/p>\n

On the same podcast, while speaking about the goals<\/a> that motivated her, Dawn Staley said her goal had shifted to helping her South Carolina Gamecocks players find out what their future looks like and how to build it, whether it is on the court or off it. The now-55-year-old also detailed why exactly she got into the role in the first place.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI got into coaching because of the challenge of it, and then once I was in it, it became more of being a dream merchant for young people. I got everything I could, more than I could imagine from basketball playing more. I want that for other young people like I want them to find their niche in life. If it\u2019s basketball, cool. If it\u2019s something else, let\u2019s figure out how we get you to the people that are the experts in this and let\u2019s do it,\u201d Staley explained (41:25).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Staley will enter the upcoming 2025-26 season, looking to avenge her and the Gamecocks\u2019 2025 national championship loss of 23 points, 82-59, to the UConn Huskies.<\/p>\n

Also Read: \u201cPeople Think We Can\u2019t Be a Billion-Dollar Industry\u201d: When Dawn Staley Shared Her Frustration Over Missed Investment in Women\u2019s Sports<\/a><\/p>\n

College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in\u00a0football<\/a>,\u00a0basketball<\/a>, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley once revealed the only two goals she had in her life that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-193579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115133613742530748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}