Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball coach is explaining her decision to cancel a series of games with BYU. Staley spoke for the first time on Sunday about the decision that was announced by the university on Friday.
“As a head coach, my job is to do what’s best for my players and staff,” Staley shared in the statement. “The incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don’t feel that this is the right time for us to engage in this series.”
The 3x Olympic gold medalist said she made the decision on her own following a recent racist incident involving a Duke volleyball player who said a Cougars fan yelled racial slurs at her.
Staley said she vetted all angles of what happened at BYU and talked to several people. She called her decision a “selfish” one and said she didn’t make it to “condemn” BYU.
“I slept on it a few nights, I woke up with the same gut feeling I should not put our players in that situation,” she cleared up. This was a selfish decision, I was only thinking about South Carolina women’s basketball.”
Staley also said the school and her players supported her decision.
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