Dawn Staley Signs Historic $22.4 Million Contract Extension;

Dawn Staley signs a historic deal, becoming the highest-paid women’s basketball coach with a $22.4 Million contract extension.

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Dawn Staley’s transition from WNBA player to coach has been nothing short of amazing.

In 2000, she started coaching the Temple University Owls women’s basketball team while still playing in the WNBA. In the first 8 years, she took Temple to six NCAA tournaments, three regular-season conference championships, and earned four conference tournament titles. In 2008, Staley was named the women’s basketball head coach at the University of South Carolina. In her time at SC, she has built the team from the ground up and led South Carolina to five SEC regular-season championships, six SEC tournament championships, seven Sweet Sixteens, three Final Fours, and on April 2, 2017, she guided the South Carolina Gamecocks to the program’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship.

Now, Staley is making history in the same place she built, becoming the highest-paid black women’s coach with a brand new $22.4 million deal. Rolling Out reports Staley went into the negations knowing this contract would set a standard in women’s basketball.

“It’s always been an honor to represent the University of South Carolina, and this contract represents the University’s commitment to supporting me and our women’s basketball program,” Staley said in a statement. “Contract negotiations are challenging, but this one was especially important as I knew it could be a benchmark, an example for other universities to invest in their women’s basketball programs, too.”

For the business junkies, the contract includes a base salary of $1 million per year, with outside compensation starting at $1.9 million the first year and rising by $100,000 each season, according to reports. The shift in how colleges and the WNBA treats its coaches and talents is shifting and everyone is on watch.

Salute to South Carolina for being at the forefront and leading the way.

You can listen to Dawn talk about her historic contract with Good Morning America below.