Dawn Staley is gearing up to keep South Carolina headed back to the Final Four, but she took the time to shoutout one of her former players who just took a coaching gig at an HBCU.
The basketball icon had some kind words to say about one of her former South Carolina students, Olivia Gaines, taking over as head coach at Allen University.
“Olivia Gaines has built a resume that would allow her to coach anywhere in the country,” Staley said when asked about her protegeé. “Her choice to come back to South Carolina and Allen University makes this a special union. I’m excited to see her back in Columbia, and I can’t wait to see her program thrive.”
Gaines was one of the building blocks for South Carolina under Dawn Staley, which heads into the Sweet Sixteen with a perfect record.
Gaines spent two seasons playing for the Gamecocks, winning the 2014 SEC Regular Season Championship and the 2015 SEC Tournament Title while advancing to the 2015 NCAA Division I Tournament Final Four.
Gaines was hired as Allen University’s head coach earlier this month after being a part of the staff of former Livingstone College head coach Anita Howard at Georgia Southern in 2023-24.
Prior to that she was head coach at Richard Bland College, an NJCAA institution in Petersburg, Virginia, where she led the team in their inaugural season to an NJCAA Division II National Runner-Up finish and a 29-3 overall record. Gaines served as the head coach at USC Salkehatchie in Allendale, S.C. prior to that. During her time leading the junior college program, Gaines was named Region 10 Coach of the Year and led the Lady Indians to a 20-2 overall mark during the 2020-21 campaign.
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