Dawn Staley Wins 2023 Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Award

For the second consecutive season and the third time in four years, South Carolina's Dawn Staley was named the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year on Wednesday.

Staley took the 2022-23 version of the award by virtue of her Gamecocks being the only undefeated team in major women's college basketball at 36-0.

With an 86-75 win over second-seeded Maryland on Monday, South Carolina reached the Final Four of the women's NCAA tournament for a third consecutive season.

The Gamecocks are in search of their second straight national championship and their third national title overall during Staley's 15-year run as the program's head coach.

While South Carolina has lost two or fewer games in a season three times under Staley, it is in pursuit of the first-ever undefeated season in the history of the program.

Along with Staley, the Gamecocks are led by a host of elite players, including 2021-22 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year Aliyah Boston, making them the odds-on favorite to win yet another championship.

Staley is now only the fifth coach to win the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Award at least three times, joining Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt, Muffet McGraw and Tara VanDerveer.

In order to win the 2022-23 Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Award, Staley had to beat out three other highly deserving finalists in Virginia Tech's Kenny Brooks, Indiana's Teri Moren and Utah's Lynne Roberts.

Virginia Tech has lost just four games this season under Brooks, won its first ACC title in program history and is in the Final Four for the first time ever as well.

Moren helped Indiana win its first Big Ten regular-season title since 1983 and achieve a ranking of No. 3 in the nation before getting upset by ninth-seeded Miami in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Under the guidance of Roberts, Utah won a share of the Pac-12 regular-season title for the first time and reached the Sweet 16 before falling to LSU, which subsequently made it to the Final Four.

After securing the Coach of the Year hardware once again, Staley will now look to solidify this season as a historic one for both herself and the South Carolina program.

The Gamecocks will face Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four on Friday night, followed by a potential clash with Virginia Tech or LSU in the national title game on Sunday.