South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley was absolutely trolled online over her hot take on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
Staley led her team to an undefeated 38-0 season when the Gamecocks won the NCAA championship in a stunning 87-75 win over Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday.
However, it was the commentary she made after her team took out N.C. State in the Final Four Friday night that made national headlines.
During a post-game press conference, OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske asked Staley what her stance was on transgender athletes participating in sports.
South Carolina women’s coach @dawnstaley says men pretending to be women should be able to play women’s basketball. Great question by @RealDanZak. This is what real reporters are supposed to do. Ask real questions, get real answers. pic.twitter.com/Kf9WKk6ylm
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 6, 2024
“D**n, you got deep on me, didn’t you?” she remarked. “I’m on the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play.”
“If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion,” the Gamecocks’ coach added. “You want me to go deeper?”
Staley was then asked if transgender women should be able to play in women’s college basketball, and her answer didn’t change.
“That’s the question you want to ask, I’ll give you that. Yes, yes,” she responded.
“So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m OK with that. I really am.”
Riley Gaines, who works as a contributor for OutKick, and is on the front lines of opposing transgender athletes being allowed to play in women’s sports, after being beaten by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2023 NCAA championship, snapped back at Staley.
“Dawn Staley knows perfectly well that men’s basketball is a totally different sport than women’s basketball,” she commented.
“That’s obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball … the sheer amount of layups compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break.”
Gaines further elaborated her point by questioning if Staley supported 18-year-old athletes playing with 12-year-old minors, “or heavyweights fighting the featherweights or Olympians competing in the Paralympics.”
“It always sucks seeing a well-established woman who has broken barriers for women in sports turn into a sellout in the name of ‘inclusion,’” she added.
“The women’s category was created to be intentionally exclusive by design. Go Hawks.”
Gaines wasn’t the only media personality to rip Staley a new one, conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly was quick to criticize the Gamecocks coach.
“Great question. Horrific answer,” Kelly tweeted on Saturday. “And this coach makes her dereliction [toward] the fairness & safety of women all about HER.”
South Carolina Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley says she supports men playing against women if they identify as a woman. Willing to bet some of the girls on her team disagree. She deserves every bit of criticism she’s about to get for this lunacy.
pic.twitter.com/InQ0O0quUp— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 6, 2024
“Oh boo hoo she’ll get criticized,” she added. “Yeah, we get upset when girls/women are endangered by social justice warriors who are SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THEM.”
Kelly’s response came to OutKick Clay Travis’ tweet, which shared a video of Staley’s post-game presser.
“South Carolina women’s coach @dawnstaley says men pretending to be women should be able to play women’s basketball,” he captioned the video.
“The number of women actively supporting the erasure of women’s athletics is staggering,” Travis added.
“But it’s a time for choosing, you either believe biology is real and men are bigger, stronger and faster than women or you believe in far left wing politics. There is no middle ground.”
Conservative commentator Robby Starbuck noted he was “willing to bet that some of the girls on [Staley’s] team disagree” with their coach’s assertion.
“She deserves every bit of criticism she’s about to get for this lunacy,” he added.
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was hit with the same set of questions during her press conference later on Saturday, but refused to voice her opinion on the subject.
“I understand it’s a topic that people are interested in,” Bluder told reporters. “But today my focus is on the game tomorrow, my players.
“It’s an important game we have tomorrow, and that’s what I want to be here to talk about. But I know it’s an important issue for another time.”