Dawn Staley of South Carolina basketball has emerged as the face of women’s collegiate basketball coaches in the last ten years. After Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma dominated the sport, Staley is currently the best coach in the business (kudos to Tara VanDerveer of Stanford for being mentioned in the same breath for all three periods).

Several people did not anticipate that Staley’s Gamecocks would be serious candidates for a national championship coming into the 2023–2024 campaign. Despite being the best team in collegiate basketball the previous season, USC was unable to win the national championship after falling to Iowa and Caitlin Clark in their only game of the season in the Final Four. Carolina lost two more contributors and five players from that squad to the WNBA Draft. The term “restoring year” was thrown around a lot for the Gamecocks this offseason.

Once again, South Carolina basketball is the best in collegiate basketball, which surprised a lot of people, including Dawn Staley. With a record of 32-0, the Gamecocks achieved their second consecutive perfect regular season—a first in SEC history—and are the clear favorite to become just the 10th team in history to go unbeaten from start to finish (UConn 6x, Texas, Tennessee, and Baylor).

Coach Staley was selected as one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award, it was announced on Thursday. Lisa Bluder (Iowa Hawkeyes), Kevin McGuff (Ohio State Buckeyes), Vic Schaefer (Texas Longhorns), Felisha Legette-Jack (Syracuse Orange), Lindsay Gottlieb (Southern Cal Trojans), Lisa Fortier (Gonzaga Bulldogs), Jennie Baranczyk (Oklahoma Sooners), and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford Cardinal) are among the other semifinalists who are with her.

Staley is the clear favorite to earn the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award once more after taking home three of the previous four. Her skill as a coach and recruiter is evident in the fact that her squad is in this position despite all of the personnel changes from the previous season.

In just a few days, on Selection Sunday, Coach Staley and the Gamecocks will learn who they will play for in the NCAA Tournament, of which they will be the top seed.