Dawn Staley's popularity made clear by South Carolina football recruiting revelation

Dawn Staley is famous enough that the South Carolina women's basketball coach is now a factor in the school's NCAA football recruiting. Shane Beamer, who leads the football program, said high school prospects wanted to meet Staley during campus visits this past January.

“It was in the middle of her season,” Beamer said via The State . “So we had to reach out to her like, ‘Would you have time to meet with eight football players?’ And I think she had a game the next day. And she was like, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’”

On Staley's coaching talents, Beamer added: “Coaching is coaching. Coaching is teaching. And it may be different sports, but there’s a lot of similarities. There’s a lot of things that I’ve learned from her. ... She’s a great friend. Literally just traded some texts with her a couple days ago about some stuff. Dawn’s fantastic.

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“I’ve been part of some teams or some schools where it’s very territorial. The football coach is all about the football team, and the tennis coach is all about tennis. But not at our place. It’s a great environment where we all support each other, and Dawn’s right at the top of that.”

Staley won National Coach of the Year for the 2023-24 college basketball season , becoming the third person to ever claim the honor three times in a row. She led South Carolina to an undefeated record and national championship game triumph over Iowa.

Coming off perhaps the greatest campaign of her career, Staley has reloaded the Gamecocks roster and could contend for another title in 2024-25. Her reputation as a winner has helped lure top women's basketball recruits such as Joyce Edwards , a consensus top-five prospect in the incoming class.

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"Thank you to the voters, my peers, for another tremendous honor - an honor to represent this trophy, obviously, with the people that, again, they do the heavy lifting, they work behind the scenes," Staley said in a statement after she won National Coach of the Year. "I'm the one that's hoisting the trophy, but I certainly know where my bread is buttered, and I really appreciate all of you all for sacrificing so much, working so hard [and] agreeing to disagree agreeably."

While Beamer and the South Carolina football team aren't in the same stratosphere as women's basketball in terms of recent results, Beamer did secure the No. 18 recruiting class in the nation for 2024, according to 247Sports. His Staley-assisted haul included five-star pass rusher Dylan Stewart.

Both Beamer and Staley are preparing to face new SEC competition this year, with sports powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference this fall. So, they might trade notes again in the coming months.