As South Carolina chases 3rd championship in 5 years, the standard shifted from Geno Auriemma and UConn to Dawn Staley
PHOENIX There is no handing over the keys to the kingdom if the one holding them preemptively walks off.In this case, its a mere formality. Dawn Staleys reign over womens basketball is only growing stronger. And thats irritating for the coach who has always held court.Geno Auriemma cited the lack of a formal pre-game handshake as the reason for his mounting frustrations in Connecticuts semifinal loss to South Carolina on Friday night. And maybe that was a small irritant on a larger scab.Yet it sure seems like it played cover for a clear shift in the balance of power that has been brewing for a decade. Auriemma and UConn are grasping onto their hold as the standard of womens basketball as vehemently as they can, but it has loosened through 30 years of 24 Final Fours and 12 national championships.Pulling away on their grip is Staley, who has built her South Carolina program into a fresh standard-bearer in her own likeness. No program has been better over the past decade than hers as they play in their third consecutive championship game on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), facing UCLA.GOOD MORNING pic.twitter.com/sofhvJGiqZ South Carolina Women's Basketball (@GamecockWBB) April 4, 2026The numbers shes assembled scream vintage UConn. The Gamecocks are playing in their sixth consecutive Final Four, all as No. 1 seeds, and are 206-15 in their six-year run. Staley is pushing stars into the WNBA, beaming at nine players on opening day rosters a year ago. Their annual draft quota rivals the elite UConn groups.Playing for Staley and the Gamecocks gives lower-level talents the benefit of the doubt when WNBA coaches consider brutal roster cuts. And every player who makes a team credits the pro-level preparation of Staley and her staff, the way Huskies have over the years.Thats a lot to take in for anyone, but certainly someone with the asset of longevity. Auriemma joked to a high school reporter on Friday night that he wasnt sure he wanted to coach anymore after the drama of the evening. He will, though. Despite mulling retirement and denying the gift of a perfect exit opportunity a year ago, he just keeps going.Past Pat Summitt, the legendary eight-time champion coach at Tennessee, who had to step away in April 2012 after an early-onset Alzheimers diagnosis. She died in 2016 at the age of 64, ending the rivalry of both coaches and programs that the sport deserved to see amid todays investment.Past Tara VanDerveer, Stanfords all-time winningest coach, who shared the NCAAs title back-and-forth with Auriemma until her retirement in 2024. The three-time national champion spent 45 years with the Cardinal, reaching 14 Final Fours and becoming the first to win championships 30 years apart (1990, 92, 2021).Past Muffet McGraw, his most recent foil at Notre Dame, who retired in 2020 after 33 seasons and two national titles. Their NCAA tournament games will live in infamy. Auriemma said last week he always knew they would have to get past the Fighting Irish to lift the trophy, the same as Tennessee before them.And the same as South Carolina now.Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley shake hands after a February 2015 game in Storrs, Conn. (John Woike/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)Hartford Courant via Getty ImagesThis is their sixth Final Four, Auriemma said. This is our 17th out of 18 years. Pretty hard to avoid 'em.He wont make it past Staley, who cautioned a year ago that she wasnt interested in a coaching tenure as long as Auriemma. The former Virginia and WNBA Hall of Famer began her head-coaching career at Temple in 2000 while still playing. She took the South Carolina job in 2008. With a win on Sunday, her fourth national title will tie Kim Mulkey for third place all-time.In womens hoops, a coach needs to build beyond the roster. VanDerveer famously drove the team van as a young coach. Coaches have lobbied their institutions, both loudly and subtly, to invest financially to boost their success. Staley came into nothing and wooed the local media, making it easier to cover her team when she took over.Their pack now rivals that of Connecticut, and she is smart about slyly using it as a megaphone to her advantage, as does any high-level coach. She built the fandom, known as FAMs, into regular sell-outs in Columbia. Her personality and care led to traveling support rivaling the Huskies everywhere all the time blanket that has covered the sport since the 1990s.Win[ning] another championship is important, Staley said on Saturday, dismissing notions of personal accomplishment that will come. It's important for our fans. It's important for our athletics department, our university.The NCAA regionals now often occur in the southeast with strong attendance, when previously they had been near UConn in the northeast, much to the exhaustion of nearly everyone outside of Huskies blue.Staley developed and earned the rare power to work the room and the refs, and the people in charge to boot.After that 2023 undefeated season ended in the semifinals, she took aim at Iowa head coach Lisa Bluders comments that battling the Gamecocks on the boards would be like going to a bar fight and claimed national reporters made derogatory remarks about her team.Asked a question a year ago about UConn senior Paige Bueckers, the day before their national championship matchup, she said sentimental narratives around Bueckers and Caitlin Clark before her puts us at a disadvantage, whether you want to believe so or not. Officials see it. Its all over TikTok. Its all over SportsCenter. Its all over all of that.Each churned their way atop the on-court action of their respective final weekends and offseason.Its that Final Four loss to Iowa with her Freshies, led by former National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston, that she said this weekend haunts her. She answered the call with an unlikely 2024 undefeated championship that required an elite coaching job to turn a daycare into a realized dream.That cemented her status on the throne, not the ensuing furor of Friday night that draws the crux of attention to a very present theme. Any takes on Auriemma tarnishing his legacy miss that Staleys continues to sprint away from his shadow.
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