Dawn Staley Throws Shade at Geno Auriemma During South Carolina Statue Ceremony
South Carolina paid tribute to women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley this week with the unveiling of a statue on its Columbia campus. During her speech, Staley took the opportunity to fire a subtle shot at a familiar rival: UConn’s Geno Auriemma.
The moment came in response to comments Auriemma made earlier in the year. While reflecting on UConn’s storied basketball tradition—one he’s built over nearly four decades with 12 national titles—Auriemma contrasted it with how other programs honor success.
“Most other places, if you win one national championship they build a statue to you outside the building,” he said. “Here, they won’t let you get to the front of the bus.”
Staley, who now has a statue of her own beside that of South Carolina legend A’ja Wilson, clearly hadn’t forgotten those remarks. The bronze monument depicts her cutting down a net—an act she’s performed three times during her Gamecocks tenure.
With the statue unveiling, Staley seemed to offer a pointed reminder: at South Carolina, excellence doesn’t go unnoticed.
While speaking to the crowd at her statue unveiling, Dawn Staley didn’t shy away from revisiting Geno Auriemma’s earlier comments.
“This honor is an interesting one for me,” she began. “If I’m being completely honest, having a statue in my honor was never a goal, or even a thought… I wanted \[A’ja Wilson’s] to be the only one, ever. Contrary to the belief of one of my coaching colleagues, her statue wasn’t in response to winning a national championship. It was in response to being a winner at life.”
Wilson, who led South Carolina to its first national title in 2017, has long been a symbol of the program’s rise. Since that milestone, Staley has added two more championships and made five consecutive Final Four appearances—building a dynasty of her own.
Though she expressed pride and humility over her legacy, Staley made it clear she hadn’t forgotten Auriemma’s jab. While national titles are certainly part of the story, she pushed back against the notion that statues are simply trophies for wins. For her, and for South Carolina, they represent something deeper.
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