The USA Today stated “Dawn Staley is emerging as the new face of women's basketball. Staley has come a long way since the 08-09 season (her first year in coaching at The University of South Carolina.) Her first year of coaching the Gamecocks was (10-18) overall (2-12) Sec. and drew in about 2,381 fans per game in an 18,000 seated colonial life arena.

Kara Lawson, an analyst for ESPN, recalled a South Carolina’s pre-season workout she attended four years ago. "There wasn't a lot of buzz around the school then,” she said.

South Carolina opened the 2014 season with the program's best pre-season ranking at No. 2, which also matched the previous best rank in school history. The Gamecocks were originally ranked No. 2 in the nation during the 1980-82 season, holding the spot for three weeks.

The Gamecocks opened the 2014-15 season 3-0 for the fourth straight time under Staley, playing all three games in front of over 10,000 fans at Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina won those games by an average of 39.3 points, shooting 50.3 percent from the field with 44.9 percent from 3-point range.

Tiffany Mitchell, Aja Wilson, and Kadijah sessions are becoming common household names now as opposed to the Ivory Latta, Camille Little and the Rashanda McCants of the past. Staley has taken the dominated and turned them into the dominators.

Due to her promising success at Colonial Life Arena, Staley became the first Head Coach at South Carolina to earn $1 million dollars a year, keeping her through the 2021 season.

The University of South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner said in a statement to ESPN:

"Dawn Staley is an iconic figure, not just in women's basketball but in all athletics. She has been successful in every step she has taken -- as a student-athlete, college coach and USA basketball coach. I believe that not only her on-the-court successes have made her great, but her efforts in the community and on campus have made her the leader she is today. Dawn is the type of coach that we want at the University of South Carolina, and I am glad that she is on our team."