South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley on Caitlin Clark: She is a superstar

University of South Carolina Gamecocks won their second national championship in three years, as you know, defeating Iowa Caitlin Clark and posting the 10th perfect season in the history of D1 women’s college basketball. This morning they’re ringing the opening bell here at the Big Board and joining us here at Post Night Camilla Cardoso, South Carolina Gamecocks center and 3rd overall pick in last night’s WNBA draft and South Carolina Head Coach Don Staley. Ladies, welcome. Good to have you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you and and thank you for just the amazing season and your incredible interview after the victory. We’ve been talking a lot about the ratings and sort of what it means for women’s sports. But do you think we are in a moment of sorts for women’s college basketball? At least I do. I do think we’re in a moment in which, and I’ve I’ve said this a long time that I think our game has been held back to now is at a point where it’s bursting through the seams and I don’t think we we’re going to look back. I think it’s just going to get better and better. What do you think’s been holding it back? I do think the decision makers have held our sport back to the point of maybe because they don’t think they would get return on their investment. I think now is the time in which they’re seeing there’s a return on your investment. When you when you pour into our game, has it always, have you felt that way that that we’re in a change? And by the way, congratulations on Monday night. I was looking at the the odds for the Sky getting the title jump more than any other team on Monday. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think our game is improving a lot and I think there’s much more to keep improving. Talk about the season and how it felt going from beginning to end and knowing that there were so many eyes on you, especially in the Final Four. I think we had an amazing season since our first game. I knew we had amazing CMA. We was going to do great things together. So I’m just proud of everything one of those girls. Does it change? I mean I know you’ve been, you’ve been doing this a while in terms of recruiting and getting people, getting women to come to the school and and the sort of path that they’re expected to take. Now in terms of playing with these huge audiences. You actually have. You know the obviously the NBA has been around a while. The WNBA has been around a while and at this point it seems like a more defined path that people can follow. What women’s basketball is a sport and it and it feels like that now with the good, the bad, the ugly of it. We we have it all. We have villains. We have you know, incredible talent in our, in our, in our sport and it’s being highlighted. The good, the bad, the ugly again is being highlighted and that’s what you have in every sport that that that’s that’s here in present. And by that you mean you get celebrated. And then of course the critics come out, right and the hot takes come out. Absolutely. So I I welcome it all. I welcome the critics. I welcome people thinking that we’re not a sport. I welcome because they’re taking time out of their day to talk about us not being a sport. So I I welcome it all. But we also have people who have marveled over our sport and the people that are in it. So I am super proud of where we are and I’m encouraged by the future that we’ll have. There’s always the money thing, you know, I think there’s been so much discussion about NIL and how athletes are compensated that way. But then you look at some of the contracts from Monday night and I think people are realizing, wait, there’s still a lot of disparity. You think that changes? I don’t do NIL. So I don’t know. No, I I do think, I think now we’re at a point where, you know, there are more eyeballs on our game and our sport. So they’re seeing the disparities, the salary disparities. But I I will say the WNBA is moving in the right direction. We’re still a very young league, a very, very young league. Just like the NBA. The NBA didn’t become what it’s become, you know, in 28 years. Think about that. So I, I do think our future is bright. I do think, again, people are going to look at our sport and pour into it because they see, they see dollar signs at the end of the day. I mean, that has to mean more schools that did not prioritize women’s basketball, for example, are going to invest in it, right? And therefore the competition becomes harder. I I hope every school every university treats women’s basketball women’s sports like like the University of South Carolina they invest they invest in in in my salary they invest in student athletes and and you’ll see that they’re getting we’re here we’re we’re we’re on the channel that probably everybody goes by real quick. I’ve I’ve done it but I’ve stopped to look and see you know what this is about. I I hope that this is a a time in which you’ll have more women’s basketball coaches here on stage because I I do think our our game is going to be rich with with talent and and financial gain. You were so gracious in in your victory interview about Caitlin Clark. Now she’s on SNL doing Weekend Update. In order to create the success you’re talking about you need to have superstars. Yes Caitlin Clark is a superstar. I I I credit her with raising the level we’re we’re we’re we’re creating more eyeballs on our sport and and we need to thank her for that and a lot of people think I’m being facetious when I say that I’m not. I’m all for the greater good of our game if she’s a big part of it. We need to find the next superstar that will take our game to the next level along with telling the storylines of a team like we had an undefeated season, a historical season. We need to tell all the stories of our game and I I do think we will.