Temple University Athletics
Dawn Staley Set To Coach 2007 USA Pan American Games Team
5.10.07 | Women's Basketball
May 10, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.- Three-time Olympic gold medalist and 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team assistant coach Dawn Staley, has been selected as head coach of the 2007 Women's Pan American Games Team. Assisting Staley on the sidelines will be USA Basketball newcomer Bill Gibbons of College of the Holy Cross and two-time USA Basketball coaching staff member Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard University. The selections were made by the USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee, which is chaired by Sue Donohoe, the NCAA's vice president of Division I women's basketball, and approved by the USA Basketball Executive Committee. Final approval from the United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors is still pending.
The 2007 Pan American Games women's basketball tournament will be held July 20-24 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will feature eight national teams from North, South, Central Americas and the Carribean. In addition to the U.S., nations competing for women's basketball gold in Rio will be Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. The U.S. opens play against Columbia on July 20, goes up against Argentina on July 21 and closes out preliminary round play against defending Pan American Games gold medalist Cuba on July 22. The semifinals will be held July 23 and the gold medal will be contested July 24.
Trials to select finalists for the `07 USA Pan Am squad will be held May 17-20 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The staff and finalists will reconvene to begin training on July 6 in Washington, D.C. The eventual 12-member squad will be named prior to the team departing for Brazil on July 16.
"One of the more important things the committee accomplished in selecting these three coaches was to put together a coaching staff whose strengths and skills complement one another," Donohoe said. "Dawn has been an integral part of USA Basketball for a number of years and brings a wealth of international competition experience, as well as a significant commitment to the organization. Her USA Basketball experience will serve these young women well in this most important competition."
"I'm pretty excited about this, I've done a lot with USA Basketball and to be in the position to be a head coach on any USA team is quite an honor," said Staley , who has been involved in USA Basketball since 1989 as a player, coach and committee member. "I'm going to treat this as if it's the Olympics, that's the way you approach anything with USA Basketball. It's an honor that not a lot of coaches get, especially being just a year out from playing. It's a lot of pressure, but certainly I will use my experience as a player and as an assistant coach with Anne (Donovan) to win a gold medal at the Pan Am Games.
"Kathy brings a wealth of USA Basketball experience to the staff. She's been a head coach and an assistant coach in a USA Basketball environment, so I'm looking to lean on her in situations that may arise that I haven't been in as a head coach. This is Bill's first experience with USA Basketball, and I know that he's done a great job at Holy Cross. I'm looking forward to being a sponge and learning some things, getting some new concepts from different coaches. We're all going to be on one page and give our players as much as we can of ourselves and ultimately win the gold medal."
After earning 10 gold medals, one bronze medal and seven first place finishes at international tournaments, Staley received her first USA Basketball coaching assignment as an assistant to the 2006 USA Women's World Championship Team and followed that up with the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team assistant coach selection. In her most recent assignment, Staley was on the sidelines for the USA Senior National Team's first two victories of its four-game 2007 Tour of Italy and will return to the Senior Team in September as the squad prepares to qualify for the 2008 Olympics at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, slated for Sept. 25-29 in Valdivia, Chile.
Because of the timing of the 2006 WNBA Draft, Staley assisted the USA Senior National Team in its final leg of spring training and served as acting head coach in her first game on the sidelines. She led the U.S. to an 85-77 victory over China on April 7 to tip-off the Australia-hosted Opals World Challenge. At the 2006 World Championship Staley the USA's young squad to an 8-1 slate, the second best record at the Worlds. After a heartbreaking loss to Russia in the semis, Staley helped the team rebound for a dominating bronze medal finish against host Brazil. Prior to the World Championship Staley also was on hand as the USA bested eventual gold medalist Australia 56-49 in an exhibition contest at Duke University.
Staley, who stepped into her inaugural coaching role with USA Basketball in 2006, was certainly no stranger to the international game after being a fixture on USA Basketball teams nearly every year from 1989-2004. A two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year (1994, 2004), three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Championship gold medalist, Staley was voted by all U.S. team captains in 2004 to carry the United States flag and lead the USA's delegation into the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Additionally, Staley was named the MVP at the `94 Goodwill Games and currently serves on the USA Basketball Executive Committee as an athlete representative.
The head coach at Temple since the 2000-01 season, she took over a program that had never won the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament and had not seen a winning record since the 1989-90 squad went 16-15. She turned the program around in her first season and has proven herself among the top young collegiate coaches in the country, leading the Owls to five NCAA Tournaments in her first seven seasons, including each of the last four NCAA Tournaments. Continuing to build a successful program in her hometown, Staley has led the Owls to an overall 151-67 (.692 winning percentage) slate in her seven years at the helm. Her most recent Owls squad finished the season with a 25-8 record, including 13-1 to finish second in the A-10 standings, and advanced to the NCAA second round, falling to USA assistant coach Gail Goestenkors and Duke.
Temple has seen a lot of great things happen since the arrival of Staley on the sidelines. In addition to the program's first A-10 Tournament title, she has led the Owls to three A-10 East Division titles, a perfect 16-0 record in conference play in 2005, a single-season record number of wins with 28 in 2004-05 and Temple's second NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The Staley-led Owls now have four conference tournament crowns to go with six postseason berths, including the 2001 WNIT and 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments. Further, before the end of her fifth season, Staley became the fastest coach in Temple history to reach 100 victories, having done so in the semifinals of the 2005 A-10 Tournament. Her exploits have not gone unnoticed. The 2005 WBCA Region 1 Coach of the Year was named the 2004 and 2005 A-10 Coach of the Year; and the 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006 Philadelphia Big 5 Coach of the Year.
A two-year ABL and eight-year WNBA veteran, Staley has seen action in six all-star games, one in the ABL (1998) and five in the WNBA (2001-03, 2005-06).
During her four years at the University of Virginia (1989-92), her teams compiled a 110-21 record for a sparkling 83.9 winning percentage, appeared in four NCAA Tournaments, including three Final Fours (1990, 1991, 1992), finishing as NCAA runner-up in 1991. The 1991 and 1992 National Player of the Year as a junior and senior, Staley was the ACC Player of the Year in each of those years and was named to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Women's Basketball Team in 2002. Virginia received outstanding play from Staley in the NCAA Tournament and she was rewarded with Most Outstanding Player honors following the 1991 Final Four. She garnered 1991 and 1992 All-Final Four honors, and was the NCAA Regional MOP in 1990, 1991 and 1992.
