South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley not only praised God after her team won the 2024 Women’s March Madness on Sunday but also said there was “something wrong” with those who don’t believe in God.
Because of that, one group of nonbelievers now demands that the University of South Carolina take action against Staley.
Following the Gamecocks victory over the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes, victorious head coach Dawn Staley gave glory to God.
“God is really funny,” Staley said. “He’s really funny. The devastating loss that we had last year, He put us back here with a totally different team.
“If you don’t believe in God, something is wrong with you,” she added. “Seriously! I’m a believer. I’m a believer because He makes things come true.
“When you’re at your worst, He’s at his best. Look at him!”
“If you don’t believe in God , something’s wrong with you. When you’re at your worst, He’s at His best.”
— Brian Burton (@CoachBurton13) April 3, 2024
— @dawnstaley after their #1 @GamecockWBB reach the Final Four their 6th time in last 9 seasons.🔥🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/B8R8bCBlhN
The comments went over great with believers, but not so much with the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), who fired off a lengthy rebuke of Staley and charged South Carolina with taking action against their coach.
“Staley has continued her practice of preparing ‘gameday devotional’ for players and sharing these chosen bible verses on her social media pages as ‘Head Coach of South Carolina Women’s Basketball,’” the group wrote in a statement. “This is inappropriate for a number of reasons, including the fact that her X account is directly linked to the South Carolina Women’s Basketball account.
“She continues to describe each game as ‘Jesus versus’ whoever the team’s opponent is, creating a Christian environment within the basketball program that excludes non-Christian and nonreligious players,” the organization asserted.
Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks is interviewed by Holly Rowe from ESPN after defeating the Oregon State Beavers during the Elite Eight round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament held at MVP Arena on March 31, 2024, in Albany, New York. (Scott Taetsch/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
“FFRF has written to the university a number of times previously about Staley’s ostentatious religiosity, but she has only ramped it up,” the statement continued.
“The University of South Carolina must take action to protect its student athletes and to ensure that Staley understands that she has been hired as a basketball coach and not as a pastor, FFRF insists.”
Well! If the FFRF insists, that changes everything!
It actually changes nothing. South Carolina might privately ask Staley not to say there’s “something wrong” with nonbelievers. Or, at most, ask her to say so publicly. But, there will, in all likelihood, be no corrective action taken.
