South Carolina HC Dawn Staley reflects on how she got "bamboozled into coaching"

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley reflected on the time she was tricked into coaching the Temple women's basketball team in 2000.

The three-time national champion appeared on the Friday episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to promote her book "Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three." The talk show host asked her if she initially dreamt of becoming a coach.

The former Virginia star and three-time Olympic gold medalist admitted she never saw herself calling the shots for one team until Temple athletic director Dave O'Brien duped her into taking the job.

"I never saw myself on the other side of the whistle until I pretty much got bamboozled into coaching," Staley said (Timestamp: 6:25). "The athletic director at Temple, Dave O'Brien — bless his heart — asked me to come in and talk to him."

O'Brien then asked Staley two questions about leadership and helping the Temple program around. She was led to the conference room with a dozen people treating her visit as a job interview.

"One of them asked, 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' I said, 'Playing in the WNBA,' Staley said (Timestamp: 7:25). "They were like, 'Do you not see yourself like the late, great John Chaney?' I said, 'No.' Y’all—I was on an interview. I had never realized it. They were interviewing me for the Temple job."

Staley, who wanted to turn down the coaching job at Temple, eventually signed with the Owls two weeks later and coached the team for eight seasons.

She was hired by South Carolina the following year and guided the team to three national titles, including the 38-0 unbeaten run in the 2023-24 season.

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Dawn Staley pushes for a WNBA team in Philadelphia

Philadelphia native Dawn Staley has advocated for a WNBA in the city just like the 76ers in the NBA. The league doesn't have a team in Philadelphia, and the hometown hero fueled the fire by pointing out that the city is ready to host a WNBA team.

However, she distanced herself from coaching the team, but she wanted to be part of the ownership group.

“I don’t want to come back and coach, OK? I want ownership,” Staley said on Friday night in a book promotional event hosted by Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books at the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.

The South Carolina coach reminded the crowd that forming an expansion team will encounter growing pains in its early stages.

The 76ers' ownership and Comcast officially made a bid for a team this year. They aim to follow the new WNBA squad, the Golden State Valkyries, the upcoming Toronto Tempo, and a team from Portland.