Dawn Staley Explains Her Mindset For Renegotiating Her 2021 Contract, Which Made Her The Highest-Paid Black Head Coach In NCAA Women’s Basketball

Dawn Staley knew her worth, which led to her receiving a historic contract. Since joining the South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball program as the head coach, she has led the team to 10 NCAA Attendance titles, with three appearances leading to national championships (2017, 2022, and 2024) the university’s website mentions. The 2024 win was foreshadowed by an undefeated season, with the team achieving a 38-0 run. This is merely a snapshot of the accolades Staley has secured since becoming the team’s head coach in 2008. “What women’s basketball needs is just someone that is literally a true honest GOAT. [I go so hard for Coach Staley] because no one wants her here,” WNBA player and former South Carolina Gamecocks player A’ja Wilson said, per Andscape. “No one believed she could get to this point and she’s sitting here shining. I think that is why she’s such a trailblazer for women’s basketball.” In 2021, Staley became the highest-paid Black head coach in NCAA Women’s Basketball, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. She was given a seven-year $22.4 million salary at the University of South Carolina. That year her annual salary was bumped to $2.9 million, which amounted to an $800,000 increase. While speaking with Forbes, Staley reveals that she renegotiated the contract because she looked at her achievements in sports compared to what male coaches were doing and how they were being compensated. Nearly three years since signing the contract, the pay gap between what female coaches and male coaches make remains significant. By using USA Today’s NCAA Finances database, Business Insider reports she is tied with University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma for the highest salary among 2024 women’s Final Four head coaches, with $3.1 million. The men’s Final Four head coaches rank as follows:

1. University of Connecticut — Dan Hurley, $5 million
2. University of Alabama — Nate Oats, $4.5 million
3. Purdue University — Matt Painter, $3.7 million
4. North Carolina State University — Kevin Keatts, $2.9 million

“Anytime you have sustained success in any sport, any level, you deserve raises. I probably looked at my male counterpart at the time and saw that his raises were much more than my raises and his success didn’t match our success,” she said during a sit-down interview with Forbes. “So I thought it was a great opportunity for me to just speak on that and to talk about that, especially when you got to strike when the iron’s hot. Y ou can’t go in and ask for certain things if you haven’t had success.” She continued, “…I hope with me going to ask and me fighting that fight that not just women’s basketball coaches get to benefit from it, but I hope every profession, because I’m sure every woman that is an executive, that is doing the same type of job that their male counterparts are doing with the same type of success, some of them are afraid to go ask because you know they don’t want to lose their footing. But when you bet on yourself, when you utilize the perseverance that took you to that status its the same kind of gall it takes to go in there and ask for what is your worth, like you deserve that. You’re not asking for a handout, you’re asking for what you deserve, and don’t be afraid to go in there and do that.”